Home: The Tale Continues
by Shadow of a Black Rose
Summary: Sequel to 'Home' - After John Flint and Aria are stolen away during the night Jenny and Vastra are both left in a state of emotional turmoil. When a body is found in the Thames early the next morning both women fear the worst but will they be able to save John and Aria and how will the lives of the Silurian and her maid pan out after their painful ordeal is over?
1. A Body in the Thames

**Disclaimer: **Anything you recognise belongs to the BBC and whichever writer came up with the ideas I use (usual drill ;) )

**Note: **Hello my lovelies, how are we all doing? Okay, so, I have really missed writing _Home_ and, despite not having even made a dent in my reading list for uni (it's over 40 books, making a dent in that list isn't as easy as it sounds!) I have decided that I'm going to start writing the sequel and hope that it motivates me to read more rather than spending all of my time wanting to write. To my new readers I should probably tell you that this fic won't make any sense if you haven't read _Home_ yet, so I suggest you go and read that before getting stuck into this one. And to my returning readers, welcome back! I hope you're as excited about this as I am and you're ready for more heartbreak but also more fluffy cuteness and, of course, lots and lots more lesbian lizard love. So, let's begin.

Love always

Shadow of a Black Rose xxx

**Warning: **Probably some violence, explicit sex, bad language etc at some point or another throughout the fic- where's the fun in writing a fic without them?!

**Home - The Tale Continues**

A single gunshot right between the eyes, that was what the officer who came to the house had said. There were signs on the body of a struggle, bruising on the upper arms and wrists, a blackened eye, a broken nose and the front two teeth were missing. The body had been found around an hour ago, floating face down in the Thames. The officer had asked if Vastra would accompany him to the police station, they wanted her to look into the case. The Silurian was afraid that she may already know what had happened.

"I'm comin' with you."

"Jenny, I really do not think..."

"I wasn't askin'." Jenny had only just managed to stop her tears but already she seemed to have steadied her nerves. The girl was determined to end this, to find the man who had taken her father and daughter and remove his head from his body. There was nothing Vastra could say that would change her mind. The Silurian watched as the girl did up her cloak and placed her hat securely on her head. She was so busy worrying about how this whole ordeal would affect Jenny that she had completely forgotten about the officer still waiting for her outside the front door.

"Darling, did you hear what I just told you? They have found a body. A man. He was shot between the eyes. Are you sure you want to... what I mean is, there is a chance that it may be..." Jenny wasn't listening and Vastra sighed in frustration. Why did the girl have to be so stubborn? Why did she have to insist on placing herself in situations that Vastra wanted to protect her from? Only a matter of hours ago Jenny had been shrieking and crying having found the nursery empty, and now she wanted to risk taking on this case despite the fact that the body they were being taken to see could very easily be that of her father - Vastra just didn't understand it.

"Are you not comin' or somethin'?" It wasn't until Jenny turned to Vastra, pulling her gloves on to ward off the cold morning air, that the Silurian realised that she had neglected to make any preparations for leaving the house. Her veil hung loosely over her face and her hands were clad in thick leather gloves but aside from that she was not prepared to leave the warmth of the entrance hall at all. The Silurian parted her lips to protest against Jenny's accompanying her once more but already the girl had turned her back and was rummaging through a draw in search of something. It began to dawn on Vastra that Jenny's involvement in this case was non-negotiable and that, no matter how much she voiced her opposition, the girl simply was not going to change her mind. So, in a rather begrudging manner, Vastra hurriedly located her winter cloak and hat and threw them on quickly, straightening her veil before fixing her hat to the top of her head.

The early morning air was bitterly cold outside and once the officer from Scotland Yard had helped each woman into the carriage that awaited them both Vastra and Jenny were thankful for the door that shut out the howling winds. The door, however, could not warm the atmosphere that hung between the two women. Ever since they had found the note left by their daughter's kidnapper there seemed to have been a heightened tension between the Silurian and the maid which neither of them could ignore. Vastra blamed herself. If she had only gone after the deformed man when she had had the chance; if she had only allowed the Doctor to locate him rather than insisting that he take her home perhaps none of this would ever have happened. Aria would still be there with them. John Flint would be at home with his wife and son. Instead Vastra and Jenny were heading for Scotland Yard, possibly about to investigate the murder of Jenny's father. The Silurian wouldn't have blamed the girl if she never wanted to speak to her again. However, Jenny did not blame Vastra in the slightest, she didn't blame anyone but the monster who had taken two of the three most important people in her life from her, but the maid couldn't bring herself to look at Vastra. It wasn't because she was angry with the Silurian but because she knew that if she glanced up into those soft Cerulean eyes, even for a second, she would not be able to keep her composure. Vastra was all that she had left.

The officer who had been sent to fetch the veiled detective had parted from the two women at their home leaving Vastra and Jenny to make their way to Scotland Yard unaccompanied, and as the carriage slowly made its way through the streets of London an uncomfortable silence had fallen over them. Every so often Vastra would look over to the girl sat opposite her but Jenny's eyes were firmly fixed on her hands that lay motionless in her lap. She seemed distracted, as though she were looking at something, and for the first time it occurred to Vastra that she had not asked what the girl had been looking for in the draw before they left the house.

"Jenny?" She didn't respond. Not even a glance was thrown in Vastra's direction and the Silurian sighed to herself. She didn't blame Jenny for ignoring her but she couldn't deny that it hurt. Realising that she was not going to receive a response Vastra leant forwards slightly and, peering into Jenny's lap, she caught sight of what the girl held in her hands. It was a photograph of Aria. Jenny had taken the picture herself only a few days before and, as Vastra's eyes absorbed the image, the Silurian couldn't help but wonder what her darling girl was thinking as she stared down at it.

Jenny's mind had gone into overdrive and as she studied the picture of her daughter she had to force herself to stay calm. Despite her determination to accompany Vastra the girl's mind was far from easy and, as she held back her tears and restrained the urge to chew on her bottom lip as she always did when she had a lot on her mind, Jenny couldn't seem to fight the fears that kept washing over her. What if the body that they had found did belong to her father? Imagining losing him when she had only just got him back killed a part of her deep inside and just the thought of Aria being out there somewhere, all alone, with no one but her deformed captor for company made Jenny feel sick. She heard Vastra say her name but still the girl couldn't bring herself to look up. Was Vastra as scared as she was? Somehow Jenny couldn't imagine that. The Silurian was too strong to allow fear to control her - she was a warrior. Jenny didn't think that Vastra was afraid of anything.

"Darling..." Finally Jenny allowed her eyes to lift from the picture in her lap and as she looked up at the Silurian she felt her heart constricting in her chest. Cerulean eyes filled with pain and fear stared back at her and Jenny knew that she was wrong about the woman. Of course there was one thing that Vastra was afraid of, just one thing - the Silurian was terrified of having her family taken from her. She had proved it time and time again but still Jenny always managed to forget. Vastra could fight a thousand armed men at once singlehandedly without even slight concern gracing her features but if Jenny or Aria were in danger then something in the Silurian would break and she could only pretend to be strong while inside she was falling apart.

"Vastra, what if..." shaking her head Vastra moved to sit by Jenny's side and gently pressed a gloved finger to the girl's lips. She didn't want to hear the fears that were coursing through Jenny's mind. She couldn't listen to the girl's worries while knowing that she was to blame.

"Hush now my love, we should not concern ourselves until we know for sure what the police have found." The Silurian was trying to maintain her mask of serenity but she knew that her shields were breaking down. She could feel the cracks forming in her calm facade and she knew that she could break apart at any moment.

"You don't 'ave to be like this Vastra," Jenny's voice was quiet but Vastra could hear her trembling as she spoke, "you don't 'ave to pretend that you're okay when I know you're not. You're as scared for Aria as I am, I can see it in your eyes. An' if my father... if 'e really is..." The girl's voice trailed off and she looked back down into her lap, shaking her head. Jenny could feel her heart breaking at the thought of her father's body lying in a morgue somewhere but in a way she loved him even more with the thought of it. She knew that John would do anything to protect Aria, he would give his life for her. Jenny only hoped that it hadn't come to that yet. "It's okay to be scared for 'er. It's normal to feel like the world is fallin' apart without 'er 'ere. But pretendin' that there's nothin' wrong... love, all you're doin' is 'urtin yourself by tryin' to be brave." Vastra watched as tears rolled down her sweet little Jenny's cheeks and she felt her own heart shatter. The Silurian pulled the girl into her arms and buried her face in her neck as all of her own emotions took hold and her body shook slightly with the pain of it all.

"I am so sorry my love, this is all my fault." Vastra hissed the words over and over but Jenny wouldn't listen to them. She knew in her heart that it wasn't the lizard woman's fault, no matter how much Vastra believed that it was.

"Stop. this aint your fault an' I won't 'ave you thinkin' that it is." Slowly Vastra extracted herself from Jenny's arms and the girl could see a few tears resting in the crevices of her fiancé's scales. Removing one of her gloves Jenny lifted her fingers to the Silurian's face and gently she brushed away each of the tears in turn, forcing a small smile before she leant forwards and whispered into Vastra's ear: "Now, you listen to me. We're goin' into that morgue an' we're gonna see if the man they've found is who we think 'e is. Then we're gonna go out an' we are gonna do everythin' we can to find our baby, an' my father if we still can, an' we aint gonna stop lookin' until everythin's okay again. Yes?" All Vastra could do was nod. It was times like this that made her truly realise just how much she loved Jenny and how she knew that she was lucky to have her. They had to find Aria, no matter what; Vastra couldn't let her mistake take both her baby and her love from her. She wouldn't let that happen.

~.~.~.~.~.~

As she watched Vastra conversing with Inspector Abberline Jenny had to put all of her effort into controlling her emotions. Somewhere in this very building lay the body of a man who had been found earlier that morning, floating face down in the Thames. Somewhere under the same roof that hung above her lay a man who had fought for something but had been shot between the eyes to end his tireless fighting. Somewhere close by lay the body of a man who could possibly have been Jenny's father before he met his horrible end. The girl knew that she couldn't lose her composure now, not when she had been telling Vastra how they would fight for the life of their daughter no matter what it took only minutes ago.

Vastra turned away from the Inspector and Jenny subconsciously stood up a little straighter. She knew what the Silurian was going to ask her. Vastra lifted her veil and kept her back to Abberline as she approached the girl. Being careful to keep the gesture hidden from as many people as possible, she took Jenny's hand in both of her own and she squeezed it gently as she whispered, "are you sure that you want to see this?" Vastra was only trying to protect her, and from the description of the body that the Silurian had relayed to her earlier Jenny could hardly blame her fiancé for being protective, but despite her fears the maid knew that she had to see the body for herself. The girl had to know for sure if her father was alive or dead and if, god forbid, it was his body that they had found then she wanted to see exactly what the monster who had taken her daughter was capable of.

All Jenny could do in response to Vastra's question was to nod her head. Looking up into the other woman's eyes she could see that the Silurian wasn't at all happy about the situation but Jenny knew that Vastra understood. With another slight squeeze of the girl's hand Vastra lowered her veil once more and she turned back to face Inspector Abberline.

"We are prepared to view the body whenever you are ready."

~.~.~.~.~.~

Despite having attempted to hide her intimate touching of her maid's hand while they were out in the main entrance hall of the police station Vastra seemed to forget herself (along with proper Victorian decorum) as she and Jenny stood outside the door to the station morgue and, subconsciously, the woman had laced her fingers through the girl's as they stood staring at the brass door handle. It seemed to have been an age since Inspector Abberline had disappeared behind that door under the pretence of ensuring that the body was covered so as not to startle the women on first entering the room but Vastra had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to make her nervous. The inspector had always hated how calm Vastra could remain under great strain and, as such, often made it his aim to make the woman lose her composure. He didn't know, of course, that under the current circumstances Vastra had more reason than normal to be a little on edge.

"What is taking him so long?!" the Silurian hissed irritably, holding onto Jenny's hand a little tighter than necessary.

"It's only been a few minutes love..." Jenny's voice was so small as she spoke that Vastra turned her head to look at her, mild surprise painted on her features. As her eyes scanned the girl's face Vastra sighed softly and she gently lifted Jenny's hand to her lips to kiss it. Somehow, in all of her haste to get the matter of viewing the corpse out of the way, the Silurian had almost forgotten that the body on the other side of that door could be that belonging to Jenny's father. It had entirely escaped Vastra's mind how terrified the girl must have been feeling or the fears that must have been plaguing her.

"Are you alright my love?" The words were so much softer than Jenny had been expecting and as she nodded slightly she felt the fingers of Vastra's free hand guiding her head to face away from the door.

"I've been better, but I'm copin'" Vastra lifted her veil so that she could press a kiss to the girl's forehead but just as she was about to speak again the door before them gave a loud creak and Inspector Abberline was revealed just over the threshold. His face was set in an expression of indifference but from the creases on his forehead Vastra could tell how troubled he had been by what he had seen behind the morgue door.

"Better prepare yourselves ladies, a sight like this isn't for the faint hearted." Jenny glanced up at Vastra uncertainly but the Silurian just squeezed her hand gently and took a step past Abberline, pulling Jenny with her into the room.

The walls of the room were lined with shelves, some covered with thick velvet curtains while others openly displayed bottles and glass jars along with many other strange and disgusting looking things. Against the right hand wall there was a grubby looking sink that was stained with blood (Jenny could have recognised those stains from a mile away) and along the left there was a metal table holding all manner of scalpels and knives and a number of other medical tools whose function Jenny grimaced at the thought of. The maid had to avert her gaze from what lay in the centre of the room. Under a bright light there was a table, covered in a grubby cloth that had once been white but had long since lost its original colour, and under that cloth was the reason for Jenny and Vastra's visit.

Not once did Vastra loosen her grip on Jenny's hand and as she felt the girl's fingers begin to shake slightly the Silurian softly stroked that back of her hand with her thumb, hoping that the motion would ease Jenny's fears somewhat. All of a sudden Jenny wasn't sure if she was ready for what she was about to see. The smell of slowly dying flesh that was coming from under the sheet was invading her senses and all that Jenny could think was that that very smell could be the smell of her father, the man who had cared for her as an infant and who had loved her despite everything she was that he had not wanted her to be. Was she really ready to see his lifeless body laid out before her?

Inspector Abberline took hold of the end of the sheet furthest away from them and just as he was about to pull it back to reveal the body underneath Jenny shut her eyes tightly. She wasn't ready, not even close.


	2. A Silurian's Wrath

Jenny's heart rate had dropped back to normal but somehow she still felt dizzy. As she sat alone in Inspector Abberline's office staring blankly ahead of herself all she could do was breathe a sigh of relief. It wasn't him. The body that the police had found was not her father. Jenny hadn't even had to open her eyes to know that her fears had been needless, Vastra's reaction had been enough to tell her all that she needed to know. As soon as the Silurian had laid eyes on the body her grip on Jenny's hand had tightened and she had whispered 'thank the goddess' under her breath. Jenny was surprised that Vastra had been so relieved but she supposed that the woman saw the possibility of John Flint's continued life as a sign that Aria was still at least partially safe under his protection.

When she had finally opened her eyes Jenny had been mildly shocked to find that the body laid out before them didn't even remotely resemble her father (ridiculous, she knew, as no one had ever suggested that it might - she and Vastra had merely jumped to that conclusion). Everything about the body was feeble and weak, a far cry from her father's form. Where John was strongly built and muscular the man on the mortuary slab appeared undernourished and sickly. His body was covered in pale, almost translucent, skin which seemed to be stretched too tightly over the frame of his skeleton and it was only marred by the bruising that had been described earlier and a hole in his skull which Jenny assumed had been the entry-point of the bullet that had killed the poor sod. It appeared as though someone had hosed down the body after it was recovered from the Thames as there was no sign of blood anywhere on it, however Jenny couldn't help but notice the grime that had remained firmly embedded in the messy mop of blonde hair that spread over the top of the man's head and circled around into a feeble excuse for a beard. A part of the maid couldn't help but wonder who the man had been before he was killed. Was there anyone who was missing him now that he was gone? She knew that that she would never know the answer.

"Inspector, for the last time, I simply cannot take this case on. Please do not make me repeat myself again." Jenny's head snapped around as she heard Vastra's voice echoing down the hall outside and for the first time since she had excused herself from the morgue it dawned on her why they had gone to see the body in the first place. The girl had been so concerned with her own troubles that it had completely slipped her mind that Scotland Yard had wanted Vastra to look into the case of the blonde man's murder.

"But why ever not? Madame Vastra, please, I implore you to reconsider. You know that you are the best detective we have, it will take anyone else months to solve this case."

"I daresay it will but I have other things to worry about at this moment in time."

As Vastra appeared in the doorway Jenny could see the annoyance in her love's eyes and she had to restrain herself from rising from her seat and giving the inspector a good whack. She knew that it wasn't his fault, that the man had no idea of what they were currently dealing with in their own lives and that neither she nor Vastra had any inclination to think of anything but their daughter's safety, but that didn't change the fact that the man was a pushy and irritating individual that Jenny found it difficult to tolerate even at the best of times. Crossing the threshold Vastra made her way to stand before her fiancé and, holding out a hand to the girl, she silently pleaded with Jenny to avoid hesitation for fear she would lose her composure and do something that she would regret.

"What in the world could you possibly have to worry about which could be considered more important than your job?" Vastra didn't look at Abberline as he entered the room behind her. The Silurian kept her eyes focused on Jenny as the girl took hold of her proffered hand and slowly raised herself from her seat. The pair exchanged a silent agreement to restrain from harming the inspector as their eyes met for a moment but as they turned to leave Vastra just heard as Abberline muttered to himself: "this is exactly why women should not be allowed into the workplace, refusing to do their job on a whim, utterly unprofessional!"

Before Jenny knew what was happening she felt the Silurian's hand slip free from her grasp and when she turned to see what was happening she flinched slightly at the sight that her gaze fell upon. As fast as lightning Vastra had grabbed Abberline by his throat and pushed him up against the wall behind his desk. Her face was inches from his own and her teeth were bared like some sort of wild animal. Somehow, in her haste, the Silurian's hat and veil had slipped from her head and as Abberline saw Madame Vastra's face for the first time Jenny could see how utterly horrified he was. The man's eyes were wide and his mouth hung open in a silent scream, his hands struggling to loosen Vastra's grip on his throat. Jenny didn't know what to do. A part of her wanted to leave her fiancé to do as she pleased, after all Jenny could hardly blame the woman for turning on the inspector as she had; but another part of the maid knew that Vastra would only be causing trouble for herself by harming Abberline in any way. The man may have been an imbecile and a pest but he still had more power than Vastra and he could do her all sorts of damage given half the chance.

"You dare to condemn womankind simply because I refuse to play a part in one of your ridiculous cases?!" The Silurian's grip seemed to tighten as she spoke and Jenny noticed how the inspector was hopelessly gasping for air. "I solve case after case for you Abberline, I do so without fuss or bother and I dispose of your killers without ever bothering you about it. I have dealt with more cases in one day than some of your detectives handle in a month and quite frankly I do a better job of each one than any other detective, as you have said yourself just minutes ago. So I suggest that you should think again before opening your mouth when I refuse a case next time because sometimes we women will surprise you. Sometimes we women are more useful to you as allies than as foes and I suggest that you remember that." Abberline was almost blue in the face as Vastra finally loosened her grip around his throat and slowly she released her hold entirely, taking a step back to observe the man who slid to the floor, quivering and stuttering as though he had just narrowly escaped becoming a murder victim himself. Cautiously Jenny stepped up behind Vastra and, taking the Silurian's hand in her own once more, she turned the woman to face her. There was something in Vastra's eyes as they fell on her own that terrified the girl and Jenny simply couldn't hold her fiancé's gaze for long before she had to look away. She had never seen her love so angry before. Jenny had watched Vastra fighting and killing criminals, she had watched as the Silurian ripped men's throats out and pulled their organs from inside their bodies, but she had never seen such passion and rage behind those beautiful blue eyes of hers before.

There was something in the maid's expression that pulled Vastra back to reality and as the Silurian looked at the girl peering up at her she felt her heart rate slowing and the anger inside of her melting away. How had she let that happen? How had she allowed herself to lose control to such an extent that she had almost choked her employer to death? Vastra had thought that she was in control of herself, that she had got her emotions in check, but the second that she had heard the inspector muttering such vile things about her under his breath she had simply seen red and lost all of her sense. It wasn't even his verbal attack on women that had bothered her, not really. No, the thing that had hurt Vastra most was when he had referred to her reason for refusing the case as a whim. Abberline didn't know what he was saying, he didn't understand that Vastra had a perfectly good reason for her decision, but that didn't change anything. Aria's safety was not just some joke. Vastra's infant child was out there somewhere in the hands of a maniac and the inspector thought that finding the killer of a man who was already dead was more important?

"Vastra, go an' wait in the carriage." Jenny couldn't look at her. She was too afraid to meet the other woman's eye. She hated to admit it but seeing Vastra like that had scared her. Seeing how quickly she could lose her composure and turn into something so wild, so dangerous... Jenny just couldn't get her head around it.

It hurt Vastra that the girl couldn't look her in the eye properly. She knew that what she had done was bad, but had it really been that bad? She felt like a child being sent to the carriage to wait but still she didn't argue. The Silurian bent to the floor to retrieve her veil and hat and, after fixing both items to her head once more she headed for the door. Just as she reached the threshold, however, she turned back and watched as Jenny knelt down by Inspector Abberline's side and began to speak to him in a low, soothing voice. The girl really was amazing. Jenny had never liked Abberline, in fact if anything she actively disliked him, but still she went to the man's side as he sat there blubbing into his hands and she soothed him. She calmed him and cared for him as though he were someone very dear to her. Vastra just couldn't understand how her darling Jenny could be so compassionate even to those she despised and as she returned to the carriage the Silurian couldn't turn her mind from pondering those thoughts of her love.

~.~.~.~.~.~

As Vastra backed away from the inspector he curled himself up into a tight ball, shaking and sobbing as the fear of the past few minutes continued to wash over him. Jenny couldn't help but pity him. There, curled up on the floor like an oversized infant, was the man who was supposed to demand respect from all of those around him. There was the man who was supposed to be in charge of Scotland Yard and who was meant to be the leader of all those who protected the people of London. The sight of him in that moment really did beg the question of how safe London really was with him in charge. Jenny knew that she had to get Vastra out of there so that she could speak to him. She understood why the Silurian had lost her temper, the inspectors words had cut deep into her own heart as well, but Jenny wished that Vastra had managed to stay calm. If the inspector said anything to anyone about what had happened or (more worryingly) what he had seen of Vastra's face heaven knows what would happen. Jenny couldn't risk letting anything that had happened in that room find its way out into the world. With her father and daughter missing Vastra was all that she had left, she couldn't let Abberline take her fiancé from her as well.

Stepping up behind Vastra a little hesitantly Jenny made sure to be gentle as she pulled the Silurian's attention towards herself. She couldn't deny that she was a little afraid but for that moment all that mattered was that Vastra needed to leave. "Vastra, go an' wait in the carriage." Jenny hoped that the other woman wouldn't take offense to being sent away, she only had Vastra's best interests at heart. Still, she could barely miss the slightly hurt expression on the Silurian's face as she retrieved her hat and veil and retreated towards the door. Jenny would have to apologise once she had re-joined Vastra in the carriage, for now she had to focus on keeping the inspector quiet.

Kneeling down by the inspector's side Jenny tried to school her features into what she hoped was a sympathetic expression. Honestly, she would rather have left the man there and hoped that he would be too afraid to say anything about the experience, but Jenny knew that she would be foolish to do so. Abberline was looking at her with scared, uncertain eyes and the maid sighed softly.

"I'm sorry about that," she murmured, keeping hold of the man's gaze in the hope that it would distract him from his fears a little, "she's a little on edge at the moment. Things at 'ome aint easy, I think you may 'ave just pushed 'er a bit too far." No response. Somehow Jenny wasn't surprised. All the inspector seemed capable of doing was peering up at her, his eyes wide and teary, his arms wrapped around himself and his hands shaking slightly. "Are you okay?" This time he nodded although the long pause before hand did not escape the maid's attention. She held out a hand to help the inspector up but, observing the way he flinched as she moved, Jenny thought better of it and withdrew to offer of assistance.

"W...what...? H... her face... how?" God, Vastra had really made a mess of him. The pompous jerk that Inspector Abberline always seemed to be was a far cry from the man that Jenny was faced with now, this man could barely get his words out of his mouth, let alone string them into a sentence.

"Right, about that... Inspector, I know that madam behaved quite badly today but I 'ave to ask, you aint gonna to tell anyone about what she did or what you saw of 'er, are you?" For a moment it seemed as though he didn't know how to respond. Abberline's eyes dropped away from the girl's face and they began to flit around the room anxiously. Jenny was rather afraid that she was beginning to lose him to his terror once more so, cautiously, she reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder. Immediately the inspector's deep green eyes flicked back to meet her dark ones and he shook his head frantically. It could have been his nerves that prompted his reaction but somehow Jenny believed him. She didn't think Abberline would be brave enough to ever go against Vastra or question her again.

"I... I won't say... won't tell..." Jenny nodded and Abberline ceased his attempts to speak.

"Good. Thank you." Carefully Jenny lifted herself from the ground.

"M...Miss Flint? You... you said things at home...?"

"Don't worry about it. We can 'andle our own problems." Without another glance at the man she was gone, the inspector would calm down in his own time but Jenny couldn't wait around for him to do so.

~.~.~.~.~.~

"Jenny, I am so sorry. I have no idea what came over me, I just..." The unexpected pressure of the girl's lips on her own and Jenny's petite body pressed into her side ceased Vastra's apology before she could finish it. She had not been expecting this at all. From the way Jenny had avoided eye contact before she had sent Vastra away the Silurian had expected to be given the silent treatment all the way home but instead Jenny was kissing Vastra over and over, her arms wrapped tightly around her fiancé's neck as though she was too afraid to let go. The Silurian wasn't sure how to react. For a moment she froze but eventually she began to kiss back and it wasn't until Jenny began to pull away that Vastra wished that she had begun to kiss the girl sooner.

"Don't apologise, I wanted to throttle 'im too." A small smile pulled at the corners of the Silurian's lips and she pulled Jenny back into her arms, pressing a kiss to her darling girl's head. Silence fell over the pair as the carriage began to roll over the cobbled streets in the direction of home and Jenny closed her eyes as she nuzzled her head into the crook of Vastra's neck. She didn't know what she would have done if Abberline had gone blabbing about how Vastra had attacked him. For a moment as she had watched the woman she loved pinning him up against the wall by his throat Jenny had thought that it was all over, that the officers at Scotland Yard would arrest the Silurian then and there before selling her off to a circus to keep her from ever attacking another human again. The maid could never put into words how thankful she was that she had been wrong.

"Why did you stay behind?" Vastra's voice was a little uncertain but Jenny had been expecting the question. She allowed a short silence to break up the time before her reply and carefully she took the Silurian's left hand in her own and slid the glove off of it, lifting it to her lips so that she could kiss the cool scales that covered Vastra's palm.

"Someone 'ad to clean up the mess you'd made... besides, it's my job to look after you, remember?" As the maid peered up into Vastra's face she could see that the woman still didn't entirely understand what she meant and so, shaking her head slightly, Jenny muttered: "I made sure Abberline'd keep quiet. I couldn't 'ave 'im gettin' you taken away from me as well..." All of a sudden the air in the carriage seemed thick and heavy and once more the two women found themselves thinking about Aria. They had lost valuable time while they were viewing the body and both Vastra and Jenny knew that they needed to work fast if they were to find their baby before... well, neither of them cared to consider what might happen while the deformed lunatic had his hands on their daughter.

Shifting uncomfortably Jenny buried her face in the Silurian's chest and Vastra looked down at her poor, sweet human girl with a small sigh. Jenny was a good actress most of the time, Vastra would give her that, but the Silurian knew that the girl was not coping with their daughter's disappearance as well as she liked to pretend. Although Jenny would put on a brave face when she knew people were watching her Vastra could see in those big brown eyes that the girl's heart was breaking with every second that Aria wasn't in her arms and small signs in Jenny's body language told the Silurian that Jenny wouldn't be able to be happy again until the child was back with them.

"Vastra, what are we gonna do now...?" Jenny's voice seemed so hopeless and broken and it pained Vastra to hear her sounding like that. The Silurian would do whatever she had to to get Aria back, anything so that she didn't have to watch their new family falling apart at the seams.


	3. Playing Games

Before they had even set foot outside the carriage Vastra could feel that something was wrong. There was something in the air that didn't feel right and as the carriage came to a stop outside the front door of the house the Silurian placed a hand on Jenny's arm to stop the girl from reaching for the door. Feeling the cool touch of Vastra's fingers on her arm Jenny turned to the other woman with a slightly confused look in her eyes but as her gaze fell to rest on the Silurian's face she could tell that something was bothering her. Vastra's eyes were closed and her tongue kept flicking from her mouth, sensing the air around her. Her scales were creased into a frown and as she sensed her grip tightened slightly on the maid's arm.

"Stay here." Before Jenny could protest Vastra had slid out of the carriage and closed the door behind her, glancing at the girl briefly as she did so. Jenny could see in her eyes that Vastra didn't understand what was going on. It was strange to Jenny, usually when Vastra sensed she would know every detail of her surroundings immediately without any need for further investigations. It was almost unheard of for the Silurian's senses to fail her, so why was it that the Silurian seemed to be having so much difficulty this time?

From the outside of the house it did not seem as though anything had changed since the Silurian and the maid had headed out for Scotland Yard early that morning and yet somehow Vastra knew that someone had been there. The air tasted different. It was almost sickly sweet, not too dissimilar from the taste of pure sugar, and Vastra found it hard not to gag as she continued to sense, slowly making her way towards the front door. Why did the air taste like that? It was normal for the air to change as different people came and went through it but Vastra had never tasted anything like it before in her life, she simply could not understand what the cause was.

Pressing a hand to the surface of the door Vastra prayed that it would not give way but from the first touch of her gloved fingers on the wooden surface she heard the hinges give a slight creak and the door swung open freely. Whoever had been there was clever. There was no sign of a forced entry, not even a hint of any strength being used to break into the house, the intruder must have picked the lock (a skill that was not easily mastered as the Silurian knew from watching Jenny learn that exact trick). Stepping into the house Vastra was almost surprised to find that nothing seemed to have changed but as she took a few steps forward into the entrance hall she noticed that she was wrong. There was something on the bottom step of the staircase that had not been there when they had left, something that Vastra had not seen since that one night when Aria had been sick - the toy monkey. At the sight of it Vastra's heart stopped in her chest, she knew immediately who had been there. What was this man's game? Why would he break into their home just to leave a child's toy for them to find? There had to be more to it than what was obvious at first glance, Vastra just couldn't seem to see what it was. Slowly the Silurian began to advance towards the stairs, her eyes never leaving the monkey as she did, but just before she could reach it she stopped. She could feel someone watching her from the door and Vastra knew that Jenny had followed her without even having to look.

"I told you to stay in the carriage"

"I didn't listen." Every muscle in the Silurian's body was tense. She still wasn't sure that there was no one else in the house just waiting for her to take hold of the baby's toy. What if there was someone there? Vastra had told Jenny to wait in the carriage to ensure that she was safe. Why did the girl never do as she was told? "Is that...?" Her voice was closer now and Vastra couldn't miss how it shook slightly as Jenny noticed their daughter's favourite toy for the first time. "But 'ow...?"

"I am not sure, but I do not know what to make of it. Darling, I really do think that you should go back to the carriage." Jenny didn't move, choosing to ignore the other woman's suggestion. Bending down with a small sigh Vastra wrapped her finger's around the toy and lifted it up so that it was level with her eyes. Carefully the Silurian turned the toy over and over in her hands, studying every inch of it as closely as she could as though it may give her some clue as to where Aria was or at least where the deformed man had been when he had taken it in the first place. She couldn't see anything. "Dear goddess, this is hopeless!" Suddenly all of Vastra's patience seemed to be gone and she stood up abruptly, throwing the toy down on the floor and growling angrily as she turned to face Jenny. It wasn't until she turned that she saw it. Jenny had closed the door behind herself once she had entered the house and stuck to the back of it was a slip of paper not unlike the one that they had found in the nursery in the early hours of the morning.

"Oh god..." Jenny noticed the slip of paper at almost exactly the same moment as Vastra and in an instant all of the colour drained from the girl's face. She was too afraid to move, too afraid to even blink. The last note that they had received from the man who had taken their daughter had been enough to shatter the girl's heart, she wasn't sure if she could handle another note like that. "Vastra, what do we do?"

The Silurian didn't answer, she didn't even seem to hear what Jenny had said. A thousand thoughts were racing through Vastra's mind but there was one common point that seemed to link all of those thoughts together. This wasn't just a case of kidnap, this man hadn't merely taken Aria to hurt them, he was playing some sort of sick game. First there had been the disappearance of the child and her grandfather closely followed by the first note and the cyber arm. The note had had a drawing of the monkey on it. A few hours later Vastra and Jenny had been called away from the house and in that time the house had been broken into and the toy monkey had been left with a second note. A pattern was already beginning to form and Vastra thought she had an idea of how this game was going to play out.

Ripping the piece of paper from the door Vastra's eyes scanned over it impatiently. She was right, it was another drawing, but this time it was not of anything that belonged to Aria and it was accompanied by more than a single sentence of communication. The Silurian's stomach seemed to turn over inside of her as she studied slip of paper in her hand and for a minute she thought that she was going to be sick.

"What is it? What does it say?"

"I apologise if my little decoy upset your maid, I am all too aware of what she must have been thinking, but she can remain assured that her father is still very much alive and will remain so for as long as he cooperates." Vastra spoke slowly and her voice shook slightly as she read the words that were neatly written over the bottom half of the slip of paper. "Now that I have your attention I trust that you will both be good girls and do exactly as I say. I will leave the object pictured above in the first place that we met - find it and your daughter will continue to live a few hours longer, fail to do so and I am afraid our game will have reached its end. You have until two o'clock."

"Two hours. What's the drawin' of?" All the Silurian could do was shake her head and hold the note out to Jenny, her hand trembling as she did so. Vastra's heart was beating unsteadily in her chest and as the girl took the note from her she felt tears welling in her eyes. "What? But why would...?" Jenny's voice trailed off as understanding dawned on her and for the second time she lowered her gaze to study the drawing. He had taken Vastra's favourite sword and there was only one reason that a man like that would want a weapon. "We 'ave to go, now!"

~.~.~.~.~.~

Staring at the skeleton of the house before them Jenny could scarcely believe that this had once been the building that concealed a machine which could convert the human race into an army of metal men. She knew that the Doctor had blown it up to save the world but somehow she had never imagined quite so much destruction. Most of the building was still standing (minus the right hand side of the roof which seemed to have caved in) but it barely looked as though the structure could withstand someone entering within its walls without the whole thing crumbling down to the ground. There was rubble spewing out from the gap where the front door should have been and through the gap in the doorway Jenny was sure she could see a gaping hole in the middle of the staircase.

"'e can't be serious. We can't go in there, we'll be killed!"

"If the structure held for him to place the sword inside then it will hold for us to retrieve it." There was a cold tone in the Silurian's voice that unnerved Jenny and she turned her head to study Vastra's profile. The woman's eyes were scanning the building first from top to bottom, then left to right. She peered through the door and into the shadowed interior as best she could and then she repeated each of these actions. "You are right though Jenny, it does not seem particularly stable. We must move slowly." Vastra glanced at the girl from the corner of her eye and she was shocked to find Jenny watching her intently. Poor thing, despite all of the pain and heartache evident in her eyes Vastra could still see a small hint of hope in the hazel depths. Jenny still trusted that everything was going to be alright even though a large part of her was lost in the void and entirely unsure about anything. Perhaps it was a good thing that Jenny was holding onto that hope, perhaps it would even help them in their search for Aria and John, but somehow the Silurian doubted it.

With every step they took after they passed through the doorway of the former cyber headquarters both Vastra and Jenny were constantly on the lookout for falling rubble or walls that were about to cave in. From the inside it was even clearer that the house was not safe for any being to be within its walls. While the structure had appeared weak on the outside it was nothing compared to what the two women saw as they slid from one room to the next in search of the sword and a note which they hoped would lead them to their daughter. Some of the interior walls were half collapsed into the rooms that they had once formed, others had entirely disappeared. There was one wall that they passed as they headed for the back of the property where Vastra had found the kidnapped humans that was so cracked and damaged that it only seemed to remain upright because of the ceiling and floor which held it together. At the slow pace that they had been forced to adopt in order to avoid causing a collapse it took the pair twenty minutes to search the entire lower floor of the house and as the sun began to descend from high in the sky it dawned on the women that the sword must be on the second floor.

"'ow the 'ell did 'e get up there in the first place? I'll never make that jump an' I aint 'alf as 'unched as 'im." The hole that Jenny had spotted in the stairs was far bigger than either she or Vastra could possibly have calculated from a distance. At least five of the steps had collapsed in on themselves as the cyber-machine had imploded and, looking down into the hole the pair had noticed a fair amount of splintered wood which would cause some rather messy wounds should either of them fall and be impaled. The maid cringed slightly at the thought.

"Try to remain calm my dear, I am sure we will think of something." Vastra was trying to keep her mind focused on the issue of finding a way upstairs but she too couldn't quite seem to understand how their daughter's kidnapper could possibly have managed such a leap. The man walked with a limp and could barely speak through the swelling on his face, let alone see out of the eye that the swelling covered, how could he possibly have jumped so far without injuring himself at the very least? "I could scale the wall." Jenny pulled a face at that and Vastra hissed slightly in the back of her throat. " It is an option."

"No it bloody well aint. You said yourself this place don't look safe, I won't let you risk it. You could fall, or worse the wall could."

"Well I do not see you coming up with any better suggestions." In an instant Vastra wished that she had never opened her mouth. She knew that Jenny was trying, they both were, but it was just so difficult when all either of them could really think of was Aria. Was she alright? Was she still alive? "I did not mean that, Jenny I..."

"No, you're right. I aint exactly 'elpin' am I... My 'ead just aint workin' right now." The girl's eyes were fixed on the hole in the stairs and she was biting her bottom lip slightly. Instinctively Vastra wrapped her hand around Jenny's and, turning to face her sweet girl, she leant down and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"We will think of something my love."

"Will we? Only, right now it feels like that man's got us right where 'e wants us, runnin' around chasin' clues while 'e sits back and laughs at our pain, keepin' our baby prisoner 'eaven knows where!"

"Jenny, I know how it feels right now but I promise..."

"Wait. What's that?" Jenny had just been about to turn her head to face the Silurian when she saw something up at the top of the stairs. Until a few moments before the top few steps had been entirely in shadow but as the sun shifted slightly in the sky the girl was sure that she had seen something reflecting the light somewhere in the darkness. Both women kept their eyes fixed on the shadowed area waiting for it to happen again and, just as they began to suspect that Jenny may just have been seeing things, there was a small flicker of light hitting metal and for a split second Vastra saw it. Her sword. The blade was wedged into the banister at the top of the stairs where the woman had crouched the first time that she had ever entered the property and between the wood of the banister and the point of the blade the Silurian had just managed to catch sight of another note.

"The sword..." Vastra lunged forwards but Jenny's hand had closed around her wrist before the Silurian could even attempt to make the jump and, stumbling backwards as her progress was halted, the older woman turned and scowled at the girl. "Jenny!"

"No, don't 'Jenny' me. Just stop for a second and think. What 'appens if you fall? What am I supposed to do if that wall collapses in on you, hm?" Jenny refused to loosen her grip and she kept her eyes locked on Vastra's as the woman's scowl began to soften. "If somethin' goes wrong then I'll lose you an' our baby. There 'as to be another way."

"How?"

"I don't know. Just give me a minute, let me..." the girl's words seemed to disappear into silence and a small smile tugged at the corners of Jenny's lips. "Your tongue."

"What?"

"Your tongue! Use your tongue to get the sword."

It was brilliant. Utterly brilliant. How had Vastra not thought of it herself? The Silurian's eyes were still fixed on Jenny and she was sure she fell a little bit more in love with the girl as she watched the corners of her mouth quirk up briefly. She missed Jenny's smile. It may only have been a matter of hours since Vastra had last seen it but Jenny had cried so many tears through the course of the day that it felt as though the last time the girl had smiled had been an eternity ago. Seeing it again made the Silurian's heart skip a beat and, not wanting it to go away, she had flicked her tongue from between her lips and retrieved the sword with the note attached within a fraction of a second. No sooner had she caught the sword in her hand, however, than Vastra realised that once again not everything was as it should have been.

Jenny's smile faded from her face in an instant as she caught sight of the sword up close and her hand snapped over her mouth to stop the strangled noise that she was sure would break free. There was blood on the sword. Fresh blood. The cold grey metal was stained copper with the hue of the substance and the smell was really quite pungent. What had happened? What had that monster done? Jenny's heart was beating a mile a minute and for a moment she thought she would be sick. The girl gagged slightly and Vastra's eyes snapped up to look at her. They were both thinking the same thing. Who did the blood belong to?

~.~.~.~.~.~

'So you found it. Very good. Thus far I am impressed with the Veiled Detective and her companion, but that does not mean that you have won our little game just yet. However, as promised, sweet little Aria shall remain unharmed a little longer. I am assuming that by now you are wondering about the condition of your sword. I apologise for returning it to you un-cleaned but, unfortunately, time did not allow for me to bestow such a luxury upon you. Do not worry ladies, all of your questions shall be answered in due course. Go to the docks after dark, my next note shall be waiting for you when you arrive - but remember, not until after dark. I will be watching you.'

That was it. That was all that the note said. Vastra was beginning to think that she would lose her mind with worry if this ridiculous game went on for much longer. It was exactly two o'clock when both she and Jenny had finished reading the letter and already they had had to live with the knowledge that their infant daughter was missing for almost ten hours. The Silurian was losing her patience. She wished she could scour every inch of London for Aria. She wished that she could track down the vile creature who had taken their baby and rip him limb from limb. But she couldn't. If they made one move outside of that man's instructions Vastra knew that it would all be finished. He would kill Aria instantly. Game over.

Jenny's eyes were fixed on the floor and she looked as though she may vomit. The girl hadn't said a word since she had read the letter. She hadn't moved from the exact position that she was in. The maid didn't know how much more she could take. Every fibre in her body was screaming at her silently. She felt as though a part of her soul had been cut away and the more distance that was placed between them, the more it hurt her. Jenny needed to hold her baby. She needed to hold Aria in her arms, to smell her skin and feel her tiny hands pulling at her hair. She was falling apart inside without that contact.

"Jenny?" She didn't answer. She didn't need to. Vastra knew what was wrong and she knew that there was nothing that she could do to help. Slowly Jenny slid down until she was sat on the bottom step of the destroyed staircase, her eyes never leaving the ground, and Vastra lowered herself to sit by her darling girl's side. The Silurian pulled Jenny against her body and the girl's eyes automatically snapped shut as she felt those cool arms around her. All they could do now was wait for darkness to fall.


	4. The Docks

**Warning: **Just a quick warning for the more squeamish of you, later in this chapter there are some mildly graphic descriptions of a corpse. If you think this will be upsetting to you at all please avoid those bits, I wouldn't want anyone getting upset. Aside from that enjoy and as always I would love to hear what you're all thinking, your reviews help me so much with inspiration and motivation to write and I am truly grateful for each and every one. 

Love always

Shadow of a Black Rose xxx

~.~.~.~.~.~

For all of the noise and chaos that filled the docks during the day barely a sound could be heard in the darkness of night. The Thames was almost still, only licking lightly at the stone walls that enclosed it as the boats on its surface shifted slightly in the cool breeze that surrounded them, and the sea-worn woodwork of the ships creaked in unison with the movements of the wind. The only light was that of the moon and the stars and as they bathed the docks in light the figures of two women entered a clear space in the usually crowded shipyard.

Despite Jenny's desperation to reach the docks as soon as they possibly could Vastra had insisted that they should wait until the moon was out and the majority of London's inhabitants were safely tucked up in their beds. The Silurian reasoned that she didn't trust their opponent. From her first encounter with the man she had known that there was something wrong about him and with the way he had so mercilessly toyed with their hearts from the moment he had taken their daughter she was not willing to risk making their way to the docks too early for fear that he would harm Aria in some way. "_But what if we wait too long an' 'e gets tired o' this game o' 'is?"_ Jenny had asked. Vastra had simply shaken her head and held onto the girl tighter as they waited in their carriage a few streets away. She knew what their daughter's kidnapper was doing. She had already figured it all out, she simply couldn't bring herself to tell the girl the truth. _"He will not"_ she had whispered and Jenny had given up arguing. She trusted Vastra's judgement more than she trusted her own at that moment in time.

The light of the moon that shone down on the dock made Jenny feel uneasy. It was almost too calm, too peaceful, too pure to be lighting a world that caused so much pain. The girl tightened her grip on her fiancé's hand and Vastra diverted her attention from their surroundings briefly to glance down at the petite figure of the human girl stood closely by her side. The Silurian wished that she could have made Jenny return home. London was dangerous at night as it was and, with only one sword between the two of them, it was far riskier for them to be out after nightfall that night than it would have been under any other circumstances.

"Jenny, you can still return home if..."

"No. I aint goin' 'ome without Aria."

As silence fell between them again Vastra turned back to surveying their surroundings. There were wooden crates and barrels piled up against a wall over to their left and behind them a row of old, rickety looking rowing boats sat abandoned, waiting for someone to come along and take them out on the water. A few large ships were chained up to the stone ground of the dock and they floated lazily on the water, casting looming shadows out over the surface which continued to shift slightly despite the lack of movement and the absence of life in the darkness. To the right of where they stood the dock went on for what seemed like miles and for as far as the eye could see there was seaweed and fishing nets as well as tools, splintered wood, more piles of wooden crates and barrels and all manner of other refuse left scattered over the ground by the working class men after a long day's labour.

"What is it we're lookin' for this time?" Vastra pulled the last note from a hidden pocket within her skirts and unfolded it. There was no drawing on it. The space where a hand drawn image of the object they were supposed to be looking for would usually have been was just a blood soaked hole in the paper where the sword had held the note in place. There was a moment of silence as both women simply studied the page before them, trying to figure out what they were supposed to be looking for, when all of a sudden Vastra's breath hitched in the back of her throat.

"Surely he would not..."

"What? What is it?" Jenny's eyes had widened and her lips were slightly parted as she looked up at Vastra, concern creasing her brow. She didn't understand.

"He did not draw anything Jenny, he merely gave us a blood soaked sword." Still Jenny's big, dark eyes simply peered up into the Silurian's face, confusion swirling in the depths and mixing with the feelings of pain and fear that she couldn't seem to ease. "He wants us to find his victim."

~.~.~.~.~.~

For hours they searched the docks, opening crates and barrels, checking in the crevices between walls and in the rowing boats. Vastra and Jenny scoured the entire dock from one end to the other and back again but they couldn't find a single trace of anybody, living or dead. Jenny could feel her heart pounding furiously in her chest as they found themselves back in the exact spot where they had started and she let out a frustrated sigh as she looked over at Vastra. The Silurian's face was turned to the floor and she was pacing back and forth across the clearing that they had found themselves in when they had first arrived at the docks. Watching her Jenny could tell that Vastra was worrying and, although she tried to control herself, the girl couldn't help but feel a little angry about it. What right did Vastra have to worry? This whole thing was down to her and the Doctor. They had let that man get away. They had let him go without even attempting to stop him and punish him for everything he had done to help the Cybermen. If they had just gone after him when they had finished dealing with the Cybermen's base then none of this would have happened. Aria and Jenny's father wouldn't have been taken. The man whose body they had seen that morning would still be alive. The two of them would not have been spending their evening searching desperately to find the next note that they could only pray would take them to where their daughter was.

Stopping herself mid-thought Jenny squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. What on earth was she thinking? How could she think even for a minute that Vastra was to blame for what they were going through? The Silurian couldn't have known that all of those things would come to pass. All she had ever done was care for Jenny and their daughter. Vastra hadn't gone after the deformed man at the time because she had been worried about them. Of course it wasn't the Silurian's fault, the only person to blame was the maniac who had their child.

"Jenny..." The girl looked up and for the first time she realised that Vastra had stopped pacing. "Darling, come here." There was something in the Silurian's eyes that worried Jenny and as Vastra held out a hand to her she couldn't help but notice how it shook slightly. The other woman's eyes were focused on something behind her and, as Jenny began to turn to see what it was the Silurian let out a sharp hiss and the girl turned back to her with terror filled eyes. What had Vastra seen that was so terrible that she didn't want Jenny to see it? What was behind her that Vastra wanted her to keep away from so badly? "Jenny please, trust me, you do not want to see what is behind you. Just come to me, please my love." Vastra's voice was fairly steady but her outstretched hand gave away her internal turmoil as it seemed to tremble more with the seconds that passed. Slowly Jenny took a step towards her, then another and with the third step she was close enough for Vastra to take her by the hand and pull her close.

"I... I don't understand... what's...?"

"Shhh" Jenny tried to turn her head to see whatever it was that the Silurian's eyes were still fixed on but Vastra had her head firmly held in place with one hand pressed against each cheek.

"Vastra!" It wasn't until those cerulean eyes lowered to meet Jenny's dark ones that the girl could see clearly just how uneasy Vastra was feeling. Her pupils were huge and she couldn't seem to focus for long before her eyes flicked away to observe another part of the girl's face. An agitated expression seemed to pull at the scales covering the Silurian's face and, for a moment, Jenny thought she saw a few tears building up in the other woman's eyes although they disappeared as quickly as they had become visible. "Darlin', what is it?" Vastra shook her head. "Why won't you let me look?" Another shake of the head. Jenny was beginning to grow impatient but she forced herself to take a deep breath before gently taking each of the Silurian's hands in her own and carefully loosening her grip on her head.

"Darling you mustn't..." It was too late. As soon as Jenny had removed Vastra's hold on her head the girl had turned her gaze in the direction that Vastra had been looking before and the second that she saw it she felt her heart stop.

"Daddy..?" Slumped against a solitary wooden barrel at the foot of the gangplank leading up to the nearest ship sat the body of John Flint, his arms hanging lifelessly into his lap and his head lolling forwards onto his chest. It was a wonder that Vastra had spotted him at all. The body had been cleverly placed between the barrel and the ship so that no matter which direction the moon shone down on it it would always be hidden in shadows. The man who had hidden him really hadn't wanted this find to be an easy one. "Daddy!" For a moment Jenny couldn't move and then, all at once she began fighting to free herself from Vastra's hold. The girl kicked and pushed and clawed at the Silurian, all the time screaming as tears cascaded down her cheeks but not once did Vastra loosen the firm grip that she had got around the girl's waist when she realised that Jenny had seen her father's body for herself.

"Darling please, stop. You must stay calm." Vastra knew that it was hopeless, that Jenny simply couldn't stay calm when her father's corpse way laying just a few feet away from them, but still she forced herself to say it. The truth was that Vastra had known that this would happen. She couldn't have predicted how or when but she had known that sooner or later they would be forced to face the fact that they were dealing with a murderer.

When she had first caught sight of the body Vastra had felt a small part of her heart shatter. She may not have approved of Mr Flint and he may not have approved of her but with all of the time that he had been spending around the house since Aria's birth the Silurian had actually grown rather fond of the old man. Despite his poor social background Vastra found it touching how John Flint would do anything humanly possible to see that his daughter was happy. He had still loved Jenny despite the life she had chosen to lead and when he had found out about Aria he had chosen to go behind his wife's back and be a part of the child's life rather than walking away and leaving the two women's hybrid baby with no grandparents at all. Anyone who cared for her family as much as that man did would always have a place in Vastra's heart and so, of course, it had hurt her when she had seen what had become of him.

"Le'me go! Le'me 'elp 'im!" Jenny was still struggling with all of her might and Vastra could feel the tears beginning to roll down her own cheeks. Dear goddess it was the most awful thing in the world for her to have to see the woman she loved in so much pain. It felt as though her heart was shattering in her chest and while she clung to Jenny's tiny body Vastra wished more than anything that she could bring the girl's father back for her.

"I am sorry my love, truly I am, but he is gone."

"No! 'e's okay, I know 'e is! Please Vastra, jus' le'me 'elp 'im!" The maid tried once more to push Vastra away but it was just no use. The Silurian's hold on her was simply too strong and, with a strangled sob, Jenny finally let herself collapse into the other woman's arms, shaking and sniffing, the tears refusing to stop their continuous streaming down her cheeks.

"Hush now dear one, we must keep our heads." It was the most soothing thing Vastra could think of to say given the situation but she needn't have bothered, Jenny could barely hear her over her own sobbing. The girl buried her face in the crook of Vastra's neck and the Silurian could feel the tears soaking through the material of her dress as Jenny's hands clung tightly around her shoulders. Vastra allowed herself to sink down to the floor until she was sat with her legs curled under her and Jenny perched in her lap and she held her fiancé's body tightly against her own, one scaled hand rubbing the girl's back soothingly as she pressed gentle kisses into her hair. Over and over Vastra whispered to Jenny, saying anything she could in an attempt to ease the girl's breaking heart, but she knew that nothing she could say would really make the slightest bit of difference. John Flint was dead and his daughter was left with a hole in her heart where he had once been.

~.~.~.~.~.~

When Jenny had finally managed to regain some level of composure Vastra sent her with Parker in the carriage to fetch Inspector Abberline. Had it been anyone else whose body they had found the Silurian knew that they would have postponed dealing with it until they had found Aria but they couldn't just leave John's body there without at least finding someone to deal with it for them. Initially Vastra had suggested that they both go and fetch the inspector but Jenny wouldn't hear of it. _"I aint leavin' 'im 'ere on 'is own,"_ she had sobbed _"Someone 'as to stay with 'im until they can take care of 'im for us."_ Vastra wouldn't have argued for all the world, things were tough enough without the two of them falling out. That was why she now found herself alone with the corpse of her fiancé's father.

The smell of blood was still thick on the air and up close Vastra could see the stain that had spread right across the front of John Flint's shirt. As she knelt by the side of the corpse she found herself a little apprehensive to touch him. She didn't know much about how human culture handled deaths but in Silurian culture when a loved one died the family members would never touch the corpse as a sign of respect. In a way Vastra supposed that John was family to her. He was Jenny's father and she and Jenny were all but formally married; to the Silurian that made the old man as good as a father-in-law to her.

"I apologise for this," she murmured, more to herself than to the corpse "but I am afraid I really do have no other choice." If there had been any way to avoid it Vastra would have done it but, knowing that the next note would be hidden somewhere on John's body, the Silurian carefully began to examine the corpse.

John really was in quite a state. As Vastra lifted his head she could scarcely suppress a gasp at the sight that met her. The man's right eye was blackened and swollen with a little blood seeping from the tear duct in the corner. His nose was crushed so that it sat flat against the rest of his face and the blood that had trickled down to his lips had mixed with that from a cut that ran from the right, just under his nose, straight to just under the bottom left corner of his mouth. One of his cheekbones seemed to have caved in and Vastra could only imagine how hard the beating that John had received must have been to cause such damage. For the most part the man's arms and legs seemed untouched apart from a few cuts and bruises but it was clearly the hole in his stomach that had been the cause of his death. Vastra could almost taste the decaying flesh on the air around her and, although she tried to dull her senses, the close proximity between herself and the body made it almost impossible for her to ignore it entirely. The Silurian couldn't help but wonder if her daughter had been subjected to watching her grandfather as he was beaten to a pulp and killed but, shuddering at the thought, she tried to focus on the task at hand.

Vastra checked all of John's pockets and searched each layer of clothing that he wore as well as she could but there didn't seem to be a letter. Knowing that the notes often turned up in the most unexpected of places she lifted herself from the ground and scoured the area from the barrel that the body rested against to the gangplank leading up to the ship but still nothing caught her eye. This game was getting harder with each note they received but Vastra was sure that they were nearing its end. If she could only find the next note then she could see just how close they were for herself, she was certain of it.

"Over 'ere" Jenny's voice was accompanied by the sound of rushing footsteps and when she turned Vastra caught sight of the girl hurrying towards her accompanied by three officers from Scotland Yard and Inspector Abberline himself. Her heart jumped into her throat at the sight of them and she began searching the corpse as carefully and as quickly as she could once more. She had to find that note before Abberline got his hands on the body. She would not have him interfering with this, not when it was her family that were in danger. She didn't want the inspector to have any involvement in this case whatsoever.

"Madame Vastra" the inspector muttered as he came to stop by her side. The Silurian only hissed slightly in response and, instinctively, Abberline took a step back - he had still not entirely recovered from the attack she had made on him that morning.

"I need a few minutes more."

"But ma'am..." Vastra turned to look up at Jenny and shook her head. The girl understood immediately what was wrong. Slowly she turned to Abberline and pointed over to the barrels and crates piled against the wall to their left. "Perhaps you an' your men could wait over there inspector, just until Madam's finished." The inspector didn't need to be told twice, he dared not argue for fear of fuelling the lizard woman's temper once more. Instead he turned on his heel and, with an uncertain look towards the maid who stood shaking slightly over the body of her father, he and his men retreated.

No sooner had the men gone than Jenny had sunk down on her knees by Vastra's side and was peering nervously down at her father's corpse. Tears stung her eyes as her gaze trailed over his blood soaked shirt and beaten face but she refused to break down again, not with others in such close proximity. She would not allow the inspector or his officers to see her in such a vulnerable state. There was only one person in the world that Jenny trusted enough for that and she knew that Vastra could feel her pain whether she was overtly displaying it or not.

"I cannot find the note." The Silurian murmured, still scanning the body in the hope that she had missed something. "I have checked all of the surrounding area but there is nothing here. I do not understand what we are supposed to do if there are no instructions for us to follow."

Jenny didn't answer. What was the point? If her father had been killed when his kidnapper had promised to leave him unharmed then how on earth did Aria stand any sort of chance? Jenny's poor baby, she could be dead already for all they knew. Even if she wasn't all of Jenny's hopes for her child were gone. She had prayed that everything would be okay, that Aria would be returned to her safely at the end of it all, but she simply couldn't see it happening any more. From the moment Jenny's gaze had fallen on her father's corpse she had known that it was all over. There was no hope of their baby being returned to them now, not when the maid had seen what her daughter's kidnapper was capable of.

The girl's eyes dropped down to her father's arm that hung motionless onto the floor by her knees and carefully Jenny reached out her fingers, brushing them softly over the back of her father's hand. His flesh was like ice, and not in a good way. John Flint was human. He was supposed to be warm. It wasn't like when Jenny's skin met Vastra's scales and the cool smooth surface sent tingles down her spine. The cold surface of John's skin was proof that he was gone and that Jenny no longer had her father to turn to. The maid allowed herself a soft, shaky sigh as she lifted her father's hand into her lap and she wrapped it up between both of her own. Perhaps she was hoping that she would be able to warm him somehow; maybe the girl was simply wishing that she could feel one last squeeze of the old man's hand in her own - she didn't receive either.

"Wait..." a frown creased Jenny's forehead and she looked down into her lap in shock. There was something in her father's hand. Carefully she slid the object from her father's grip and held it out towards Vastra. It was difficult to see with only the light of the moon to light it but as the Silurian's eyes studied the object closely her vision slowly began to focus on its silhouette - it was a key, and not just any key but the key to their house.

"Inspector, he is all yours - look after him." Vastra was on her feet in an instant and she gently helped Jenny to her feet as the officers from Scotland Yard began returning to the place where the two women stood. She wouldn't wait any longer. The Silurian wanted this matter settled and she wanted the man who had been playing these games dead.


	5. The Game's End

**Note: **Okay, I know, my ability to update at reasonable intervals has really gone out of the window with this chapter and I am very sorry for that. There are two reasons that I must credit my slow writing to - 1. I haven't been feeling incredibly well as of late and as a consequence my concentration levels have been very low, and 2. This was a really difficult chapter for me to write and no matter how many times I have re-written it it simply hasn't felt right. As such, I apologise if this chapter isn't quite up to my usual standard but at this point it feels as though this is as good as it's going to get. Good luck and enjoy (if that is at all possible).

Love always

Shadow of a Black Rose xxx

**Warning: **Without giving too much away I just feel I should warn you all that this chapter could be quite upsetting and perhaps you should read with care. If anything becomes too distressing for you, please stop reading!

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It was almost dawn but the rooms of the house on Paternoster Row were still laying in darkness. Nothing moved and not a sound could be heard bar the grandfather clock ticking away the seconds as they passed. Jenny hadn't moved for hours. She had sat in the window of the nursery watching as the moon descended from its perch high in the sky and as the darkness of night began to fade from black to grey. How could time still be passing out there while everything within the four wall of her home seemed to have come to a standstill? The girl had been asking herself the same question ever since she had found herself sat there, but no matter how many times she had asked, she still could not find an answer.

_The carriage jolted to life and Jenny watched from her window as the image of the three young police officers lifting her father's body into another carriage disappeared into the night. Once more tears began to well in the girl's eyes but she brushed them away as soon as she felt them beginning to slip down onto her cheeks. She would have time to cry and mourn her father's loss later, for now she had to keep her composure - Aria still needed her. _

_"Jenny." Vastra's voice sounded close and as the maid continued to stare out at the dark shadows of London she could feel the other woman's body pressed firmly against her own. The Silurian had wrapped an arm around her waist and as she spoke she nuzzled her face into Jenny's hair, breathing the girl's scent in to remind herself that they still had one another. "Darling, I just... I wanted to say, no matter what we find when we get home, everything is going to be alright, okay?" _

_"What are you not tellin' me?" The girl's voice shook as she whispered the words and she turned her head to regard the Silurian. There was something in the way that Vastra had spoken that made Jenny uneasy. Perhaps it was the pauses or the way that the older woman had almost suggested that she knew what was waiting for them at home, Jenny couldn't say for sure, all she knew was that Vastra was hiding something from her. _

_"Nothing." Jenny caught a glimpse of something in the lizard woman's eyes as she muttered the response that turned her stomach. Those normally sparkling cerulean orbs seemed dull and grey and Jenny felt her blood run cold at the brokenness that was hidden within them. _

_As the word left her lips Vastra turned her head away. __Her __hand still rested gently on Jenny's waist but she couldn't seem to find the courage to look back into those big, dark eyes of hers. All the Silurian wanted in that moment was to go back and stop all of this from happening before it had even started. Dear goddess she had been foolish to let that man escape when she did, and just look where it had got her. "Please my love, do not make me tell you." Carefully lifting a scaled hand to caress the soft, warm flesh of her darling girl's cheek Vastra finally lifted her gaze up once more to meet Jenny's and she took a deep breath to steady her nerves. _

_"Vastra, if you're 'idin' somethin' important from me..." _

_"No. Darling it is only a suspicion. Please, I do not want to worry you if I am not certain that there is anything for you to worry about." Jenny's brow creased slightly and she bit her lower lip as she looked up into Vastra's eyes. What suspicion? Was it something to do with Aria? And if so, why wouldn't the Silurian just tell her? There were so many questions running through the maid's mind that she could barely hear herself think. She tried to search Vastra's face for some sort of clue or even just the smallest hint of what it was that was scaring her so much but Vastra had schooled her features into the calm expression that she wore so well and all Jenny could see was the pain hidden within her eyes. _

_"I can see 'ow much it's 'urtin' you love," the girl whispered, closing her own eyes for a moment as she tried to block out the broken look that she had seen in Vastra, "whatever it is, you shouldn't be dealin' with it alone, even if it is only a suspicion." _

_Vastra felt tears burning in her eyes and her lips quivered slightly as she tried to find something to say. Jenny didn't understand. She didn't know what she was asking of her. How was Vastra supposed to tell her that she was afraid that they were leaving one corpse and returning home to another? How was she supposed to look that sweet, beautiful, wonderful girl in the eye and tell her that she feared that their baby was already dead? If the death of her father hadn't broken Jenny's heart then hearing Vastra say such a thing would certainly shatter that fragile organ into a million pieces. In the end the Silurian opted to say nothing. She tightened her grip around the maid's waist, practically pulling her into her lap, and pressed a kiss first to Jenny's forehead and then to her lips. _

_"I love you," she whispered, "and that is why I cannot tell you the truth about this." _

Jenny should have foreseen what would happen. From the moment that Vastra had said what she had in the carriage she should have understood what the Silurian was implying. "_No matter what we find when we get home, everything is going to be alright" _Jenny couldn't comprehend how she had missed it. Vastra knew. She had figured it all out long before they had found themselves outside the nursery door. That daft old lizard, so determined to protect Jenny that she would force herself through hell and back just to keep hope in the heart of the woman she loved for even a little while longer.

_"Jenny, if I asked you to wait out here..." _

_"I wouldn't listen." Vastra had been stood, staring at the nursery door for what seemed like an eternity and Jenny could tell that she didn't want to cross that threshold. _

_From the minute that they had set foot in the house Vastra's senses had been heightened and she had rushed up the stairs in such a hurry that Jenny could tell exactly what was happening. He was there. The man who had taken their daughter was in their home, under their roof. It wasn't until they had stopped outside the nursery that the maid had begun to feel sick. Her insides were squirming and the contents of her stomach churned itself up until Jenny felt as though it was going to empty itself all over the floor. All she could think was how long that man had been there? Had he been keeping Aria a prisoner in her own home all this time while he sent Vastra and herself on a wild goose chase? _

_"My love, are you not afraid?" The Silurian's eyes never moved from the door but as the trembling of her voice broke through the silence of Jenny's musings the girl's attention was pulled in her direction. Tentatively she took a step closer to Vastra and with the softest touch possible she lifted her right hand and slid her fingers along the other woman's jaw line until Vastra had no choice but to look at her. _

_"I've never been more scared in my life," Jenny admitted, forcing her voice to remain steady, "but I know 'ow strong we are, an' 'ow strong Aria is. I know that we'll be okay." _

Little had she known what lay on the other side of that door. If Jenny had known what they would find when they entered that nursery before perhaps she would not have been so hopeful. The only thought in her mind at the time had been that Vastra was scared and hurting and that she would say anything she could think of to try and ease the burden on the Silurian's mind. Had she believed what she'd said? Yes. They had been through so much even before the chaos of that day had begun; Jenny had been sure that, whatever else the world had to throw at them, they would be able to handle it as they handled everything. Did she feel the same now that it was all over? Well, that was a difficult question to answer.

_Jenny had been prepared to fight as the door to the nursery swung open. She had been ready to launch herself at that deformed creature, to break every bone in his miserable body and make him beg for death after everything that he had put her family through that day, but she had not been expecting the reality that met her as she and Vastra finally stepped past the threshold. "Bloody 'ell..." Laying in the centre of the floor, his eyes wide open and his arms splayed out at his sides helplessly, was the man who had killed Jenny's father. "I... but... I don't understand..." As she spoke the girl rushed forwards and leant down to check the man's pulse. She felt nothing. Everything in Jenny's mind seemed to freeze. What the hell was going on? This had never happened before. They had never chased a criminal for an entire day only to find when they caught up to him that he was dead. It wasn't as though they could take a corpse in for questioning, so what were they supposed to do now? _

_It wasn't until she looked up at Vastra that Jenny realised how quiet the woman had become all of a sudden. Only moments ago when they had been waiting outside the door the Silurian had been a mess. She had tried to hide it as well as she could but Jenny saw right through her acts, the girl knew Vastra too well to be deceived so easily. Jenny had known that the other woman had been terrified of opening the door to the nursery, she had known how much Vastra had been cursing herself internally for letting things get as bad as they had and she had known that the Silurian blamed herself for all of this starting in the first place. Now though, all of those feelings Jenny had sensed in the other woman seemed to have vanished, replaced only by a strong sense of confusion that matched her own. _

_"This is not right." _

_"What d'you mean it isn't right?" Jenny frowned. There was one thing the girl still couldn't seem to see in the workings of the Silurian's mind, one thing that she couldn't understand and not for a lack of trying - what was it that Vastra knew and she didn't? _

_"He was supposed to be alive when we got here. He cannot be dead. This is not what was supposed to..." The Silurian's voice dropped off into nothingness and her eyes fixed on the man's body. There was something different about him. Vastra could sense something on the air that had changed about the man she had encountered all that time ago with the Doctor. What was it? _

_"Vastra, there's a note." It was pure coincidence that Jenny had found it but, protruding from an inside pocket of the dead man's jacket was a small piece of paper that both Vastra and Jenny recognised. The last note. Cautiously Jenny lifted the left lapel of the jacket just enough to allow her access to the pocket and she slid the note out before holding it out to Vastra. The Silurian didn't budge. She made no attempt to take the note or even turn her head to look at it. Jenny knew why. Vastra was afraid of what the man who was about to die may have had to say. Unfolding the note Jenny knew that she would have to read it out loud. Vastra wouldn't read it for herself, that much had become clear to her already; and so, coughing once to clear her throat, the girl began. _

_"So we 'ave reached the end of our journey together ladies, and what a journey it 'as been. We 'ave all but travelled through time in our search for one thing or another an' now we must face the present moment. I would imagine by now that at least one of you 'as come to understand why I 'ave done all of this, an' I am certain that I know which of you that is. Not to worry though Miss Flint, I will explain my actions in a simple enough way for you too to understand. _

_The world is a cruel place for those of us who are different. The society in which we live does not accept those who look or act even remotely differently to that which is considered the norm. When I turned to the Cybermen for assistance all of those months ago I 'ad 'oped that I could create a world in which we could all be accepted because there would be no differences to divide us. I 'ad 'eard stories of the veiled detective an' 'ad 'oped, Madame Vastra, that you would understand why I would want to create this world in the way that I did. That was before I learned of your relationship with Miss Flint. I 'ave grown to understand why you stopped me from creating a world of cyber-people over the months that 'ave passed since, to do so would 'ave meant removing all emotion from 'umanity and I can see 'ow that would 'ave 'urt you considerin' 'ow strongly you feel for both the maid an' your daughter. 'owever, I cannot say that I approve of your judgement. _

_My question to you both is this: 'ow could you bring a child into a world where she would become an outcast if anyone were to see 'er for what she was? I understand that Aria would appear to be 'uman at first glance but did either of you consider what the world would do to 'er if she were to lose control of that tongue of 'ers around the 'umans of this time period? She would 'ave been killed, or worse, experimented on. 'er life would 'ave become a misery. An' that, my dear ladies, is why I 'ave seen fit to..." all of a sudden Jenny's voice stopped in her throat and she simply couldn't make the words form properly in her mouth. Her heart had dropped into her stomach and the colour had drained from her face, but all the girl could do was stare at the words on the page. This couldn't be real. He was bluffing. Jenny wouldn't believe that this was true. _

_"Keep going." Vastra's voice was cold and hard. Jenny could feel the woman's pain in the way that she hissed. This was what Vastra had known. This was what her dear, sweet lizard had been trying to protect her from. The Silurian had known that they would return home to find Aria dead and as the realisation dawned on Jenny every part of the girl suddenly went cold. For a moment she remained silent but as she felt Vastra's eyes fixed on her she forced the words to come to her again, not feeling a thing as she said them. _

_"An' that, my dear ladies, is why I 'ave seen fit to remove your child from this world and save 'er from the cruel life that you both chose to inflict upon 'er. _

_While I do not regret this final murder, 'owever, I do wish to express my deepest condolences to you Miss Flint on the loss of your father. I never did intend on takin' 'is life but the old man would not 'and the child to me when I asked it of 'im. I did what I 'ad to do to save your daughter an' I only wish that your father could 'ave cooperated so that at least 'e could 'ave been spared. _

_While I will still be 'ere with you physically when you read this letter I know that I myself will 'ave been long gone from this world. I can only 'ope that the next life will be a little kinder to both myself an' Aria. _

_Jacob Merrick." _

Vastra had fled the room as Jenny finally finished reading the letter, the girl didn't remember much after that. She remembered turning Jacob Merrick's letter over to find a beautifully drawn picture of an angel on the back. She remembered throwing the note into the fire and watching as it burned and turned to ash. After that the first thing she knew was that she was watching as the stars went out and the sun began to peep over the rooftops of London. It was a bright new day everywhere but within the shadowed walls of 13 Paternoster Row.

It had been a long while since Jenny had sat to watch the world moving outside the nursery window but as the sun finally began to rise the girl allowed her gaze to wonder away from the outside world. Jenny could feel dried tears on her cheeks that she didn't remember crying and for the first time she felt a weight in her arms. When she looked down she was only mildly surprised to find that she was holding the tiny, delicate little body of the little girl who only a day or so ago had been her beautiful, happy little angel.

Aria's eyes were closed. Her skin was so pale that it was almost grey. Thankfully there didn't seem to be a mark on her. Jenny didn't want to know how her daughter had died but she was glad that it hadn't been as gruesome as her father's death. The maid didn't remember taking Aria's body from her crib. She didn't remember how she had lifted her sweet little girl as though she were still alive, wrapped her in a warm, soft, snow white blanket, and pressed a kiss to her head as she lowered herself into the armchair by the crib. All Jenny knew was that, as she looked down at her baby's limp and lifeless body, all she could feel was emptiness. It was as though she had died too. The world felt wrong. Everything felt wrong. Aria should have been clapping to get her attention or getting up to all sorts of mischief as she always had done in her very short time in this world, gurgling happily as she did so. The empty shell in Jenny's arms was not how the girl wanted to remember her baby.

Jenny was slow and careful when she finally found the strength to lift herself from the armchair to stand once more. She held Aria's body tightly to her chest and inhaled the scent of the child's hair deeply as she pressed her face into the soft, wispy, dark curls. Jenny didn't want to forget Aria. She didn't want to forget the way she smelled or the feel of her tiny body in her arms. She didn't want the sound of her little angel's laughter to disappear from her memory but she was so afraid that it would.

"Sleep well my angel," Jenny whispered as she carefully laid Aria down in her crib for what she knew would be the last time, "don't you ever forget 'ow much your mummy and I love you." The girl pressed a gentle kiss to her baby's forehead and then turned away. She couldn't bear to stay in that room any longer.

As she headed towards the door Jenny couldn't help but notice that Jacob Merrick's body was nowhere to be seen. She must have moved it at some point between Vastra leaving the nursery and when she herself had stood up just a few minutes ago, although for the life of her she couldn't remember when she had moved him or where she had put him. Still, it wasn't important at that moment in time and so Jenny pushed the thought from her mind as she closed the nursery door behind herself. The girl turned to her right and began to walk passing one door and then another until eventually she found herself standing outside the bedroom that she and Vastra shared. The door had been thrown open and as Jenny approached she knew that Vastra was in there. She could hear the Silurian sniffling and whimpering, the sounds muffled ever so slightly but still very clearly audible.

Jenny hadn't thought that her heart could break any more than it already had until she heard Vastra's whimpers. The girl had only ever heard Vastra making sounds like that once before and it had been the worst experience of her life. It had been on the first anniversary of the day that the Silurian had been awoken in London and had realised for the first time that her entire family was dead. Vastra had been in so much pain mourning the loss of her sisters that she had refused to let Jenny come anywhere near her. That was before all of this had started, before their first kiss, even before they had admitted their feelings for one another to themselves. Jenny had hoped that she would never have to see Vastra in that sort of a state again but under these conditions at least the girl could understand exactly how her love felt.

Creeping into the room Jenny closed the door softly behind herself and everything was plunged into darkness. Despite the rising sun outside, the thick velvet curtains blocked out almost all of the light and only a soft glow from the dying flames in the fireplace made it possible for the girl to see anything. In the half light Jenny could just about make out the shape of Vastra's form curled up under the blankets on the bed. The woman's shoulders shook and Jenny bit her lip, attempting to keep her composure. Vastra needed her to be strong. Whenever anything had become difficult in their lives in the past Vastra had been the one who held it together, who stayed calm and collected and looked after Jenny, this time it was the maid's turn to be brave. Perching on the stool by the dressing table Jenny leant down and unlaced each of her boots before kicking them off onto the floor. She didn't bother changing into her nightgown, there was no point. Instead she made her way straight over to the bed and slid into her own side. Vastra's weeping didn't stop, she barely even seemed aware that Jenny was in the room. The Silurian's back was turned towards Jenny's side of the bed and she had her face buried in her pillow in an attempt to muffle her sobs.

"Eh now, it's alright love, I'm right 'ere. We'll be okay." Jenny almost purred the words as she wrapped her body around Vastra's and she felt the Silurian's trembling ease slightly at her touch.

Almost as soon as she felt her darling girl's warm arms around her Vastra rolled over and buried her face in Jenny's chest. She wanted to tell the girl that she was wrong, that there was nothing alright about what had just happened and that they couldn't possibly be okay when their child had just been so cruelly taken away from them, but she knew that she didn't have to. Jenny may have seemed calm and at ease to anyone else who saw her in that moment but Vastra had heard the way that the girl's voice had faltered on the word 'alright' and she could feel the tension in the arms that Jenny had wrapped so tightly around her. No one who was entirely at ease would cling to the person they loved like that, they would have no need to. Knowing that Jenny was trying to be brave for her only made Vastra cling to her more desperately. She needed this right now, she needed Jenny close if this wound in her heart was ever going to heal.

No words were passed between them after that. The sun rose and set outside the window but neither Vastra nor Jenny moved from their bed. The world moved on but in that bedroom everything remained silent and still.


	6. The Days That Followed

**Note: **Wow. Just wow. The responses to that last chapter really did vary and quite frankly I'm not surprised in the slightest. So, now you all know what the terribly painful thing that I was talking about writing towards the end of _Home_ was - do you see now why I was having so much difficulty with it?! I am sorry that Aria's death has upset so many of you so much but I'm not a total monster and I am more than happy to answer the one question that almost everyone asked - why? So, there are two reasons that I decided that I needed to kill Aria, one which was more influential than the other. The first reason that I considered while I was making my decision (and this is the less important of the two reasons) was purely for continuity reasons. This Saga is based long before we see Vastra and Jenny in Doctor Who for the first time and, as we all know, they do not have a child at that time. I'm a bit of a stickler for continuity so as you can imagine I did have to find some way of removing Aria from the story. I know you're all probably thinking "But you didn't have to kill her!", and I can understand why you would think that, but this is where my second reason comes into play. I don't know how many of you actually write yourselves but as far as I'm concerned any good writer should know that to really get into the deepest recesses of a character's mind and to truly see who they are and how strong they can be you have to be able to break them. Since I started writing this fic I have spent a lot of time wondering how best I could really get into the depths of Vastra, Jenny and their relationship and when the idea of giving them a child just to take her from them again came to me I knew that it would be the perfect set up to really explore how each of them copes as well as how they cope as a couple. I know it's a horrible thing that I had to do but now that it's over I know that I can really move the story on and hopefully make something amazing from it.

I hope that none of you hate me too much for the decision I made. If it makes you feel any better it was probably a thousand times more painful for me having to write it than it was for you to read. I literally felt as though I was falling apart the whole time that I was writing that chapter but I know that it will be worth it when this fic is finished. So, all I have left to say is that I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'm sorry for this ridiculously long author's note, I just thought I owed you all an explanation after the emotional torment that I put you through in the last chapter!

Love always

Shadow of a Black Rose xxx

**Warning:** Some upsetting corpse descriptions - read with care.

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Jenny only gave herself a day to mourn the loss of both her daughter and her father before she decided that she would have to begin picking up the broken pieces of hers and Vastra's lives. From the moment she had slid into bed with Vastra the morning after their ordeal she had simply held the Silurian's body in her arms, taking her comfort in knowing that if nothing else she still had Vastra, and as the sun began to rise the next day Jenny had extracted herself from the bed and her love's arms and she had set herself to work trying to clean away any memory of the events that had occurred within their home. She had thrown every note that the man had left for them into the fire and took great satisfaction in watching them curl and burn in the flickering flames. She had cleaned and polished the sword of Vastra's that had been used to kill her father until it looked as good as new and she had placed it back onto the stand in the hall with all of their other weaponry so that it appeared as though it had never been removed from its perch at all. Jenny had spent a good few hours scrubbing at the dresses that she and Vastra had been wearing as they searched for their daughter in an attempt to get them clean but no matter how hard she tried she could not seem to get the filth and grime out of them and so in the end she had merely thrown them onto the fire with the notes. Having had no idea exactly where Merrick had been in the house Jenny had carefully cleaned the entire place from top to bottom, ensuring that no trace of the man remained aside from his body which she had found in the larder, and even then she was careful to clean all around the area where Merrick's rotting corpse lay. All of this Jenny had done by mid day and as the clock struck twelve she had found herself once again stood within the four walls of her daughter's nursery, looking down at the tiny, cold body in the crib.

Jenny thought she would be sick just looking at what remained of Aria. Although most of the child's body was well hidden by the soft white blanket that Jenny had wrapped her in the day that she had died the little of Aria's face that was on show was a horrifying sight. In the day that had passed since Jenny had left her daughter's body to rest in the crib the beginning stages of decomposition had begun and as the maid laid her eyes on her baby's face she almost couldn't recognise her. Aria's once pretty pink skin was pulled tightly over her face and the colour had faded to a bluish-green shade. The baby's plump little cheeks had begun to sink in on themselves and her tiny skull could almost be made out exactly through the thin layers of skin that covered it. Jenny knew that she couldn't leave Aria there any longer. Her baby deserved to be laid to rest at least while she still resembled herself and so, after changing into something that she didn't mind ruining, Jenny had spent the rest of her afternoon at the bottom of the garden digging a small grave in which to lay her little angel to rest for good.

There was no point in them having a formal funeral for Aria when only Vastra, the Doctor, and Jenny herself had known of the child's existence, and quite frankly Jenny wasn't sure that Vastra could have faced it even if they had. Once she had finished digging the grave Jenny had cleaned herself off and gone up to the bedroom that she and Vastra shared to see if the Silurian felt that she wanted to come and say goodbye to their little girl. Vastra hadn't responded. The Silurian had laid on her side, her eyes staring blankly ahead of her, and her entire form remaining motionless. Jenny knew that there was nothing that she could do or say to snap her love out of it, these silent times of thought were just Vastra's way of coping.

By the time the sun set that night Aria's body was buried under the rose bush in the back garden and almost everything in the house was back to how it had been days before.

~.~.~.~.~.~

It had been early the following morning when Jenny finally felt ready to face Inspector Abberline. A part of her wished that she didn't have to contact the inspector at all but given that something had to be done about Jacob Merrick's body rotting away in their larder she knew that she had no other option. Vastra still seemed lost inside her own mind and so when Jenny went to make the call she was careful not to mention the Silurian, hoping that perhaps Abberline wouldn't be too snippy on meeting the maid rather than the detective who he saw as her employer. Once she was satisfied that Abberline and his officers were on their way Jenny hurried back upstairs to make herself a little more presentable but it wasn't until she found herself stood in front of the full length mirror in the bedroom that she realised just how much of a state she was in.

Jenny hadn't seen her own reflection since the day that they had found her father and daughter missing. It wasn't that she had been avoiding it as such but rather that, in all of the fuss and commotion, she simply hadn't had the time or inclination to pay much attention to the way that she looked. On seeing herself for the first time in days she realised just how much everything she had been through had taken its toll on her. There were dark bags under her eyes and her skin seemed pale and dull. The golden tones that often tinted the darkness of her eyes were nowhere to be seen and her bottom lip was red raw from where she had been chewing it nervously. Looking down at her hands Jenny couldn't help but notice the blisters and peeling skin that were left from the time she had spent digging and filling her daughter's grave and, although she had tried to scrub the dirt from her skin, there were still fine particles of mud buried under her nails and in the crevices of her calloused fingers.

"I do not doubt that we both appear a little dishevelled after the events of the past few days." The voice that emanated from behind Jenny sounded dry and weak and the girl jumped slightly with the shock of hearing Vastra stirring from her painful reverie. Turning slowly to observe the Silurian Jenny was surprised to find Vastra sat upright and watching her closely with those impossibly blue eyes of hers.

"Actually, you look as beautiful as ever." she murmured in response. It was true. Despite Vastra's silence over the two days that had passed and her refusal to eat, sleep, or even respond to the world around her, the Silurian still looked remarkably well. Her scales were a little paler than normal but she didn't look remotely dishevelled and her eyes seemed to have regained the captivating sparkle that had melted Jenny's heart from the moment that she first looked into them. "I, on the other 'and..."

"You look as any other heartbroken ape would in your situation." Jenny couldn't help but bristle at the word. _Ape_. It had been so long since Vastra had referred to her as such a primitive creature that Jenny had almost forgotten how much it hurt to hear it. So this was how the woman was choosing to handle her pain. The girl couldn't say that she was surprised.

The Doctor had told Jenny once of how he and Vastra had met and how he had helped the Silurian to come to terms with the loss of her beloved sisters. He had told her of how distant Vastra became for a long time after the day that she found herself alone in a world that no longer resembled her own. Jenny could see it happening all over again. The days of silence. The digression from their usually close relationship. That word. _Ape_. Vastra was having to find a way once more not to despise all of human kind for taking someone she loved so dearly from her.

"Will you be leavin' your bed at all today ma'am?" Somehow Jenny didn't feel comfortable using Vastra's first name when she acted so coldly towards her. It wasn't that she was angry or upset, she knew that Vastra didn't mean it in a hurtful way, but honestly Jenny herself was having trouble feeling anything at all at that moment in time. Why should she force terms of endearment if the woman she loved was going to speak to her as though she were a complete stranger. Vastra didn't respond. She tilted her head in that reptilian way of hers, her eyes focused directly on the human girl before her, but she didn't say a word.

The Silurian's silence was answer enough for Jenny and, when she could no longer bear the feeling of those piercing cerulean eyes practically boring into her soul she pulled a clean dress from the wardrobe and retreated to the bathroom. No sooner had Jenny shut and locked the door behind her though than she felt her knees buckle beneath her and she slid down to the floor, tears streaming down the surface of her cheeks. Why she was crying she couldn't say. Jenny knew that she was supposed to be upset and heartbroken. She knew that anyone who saw her in the state she was in and knew that she had just lost her only child would not even question her motive for crying. But Jenny herself simply didn't understand it. She didn't feel upset as she was meant to. She didn't want to scream and cry and curse the world in the hope that it would bring her daughter back. She didn't even want to push Vastra away despite those eyes that their daughter had inherited and which reminded Jenny so much of her beautiful baby. Jenny didn't feel any of that. In fact, to be frank, she felt nothing at all. For the first time in her life Jenny Flint didn't have a single feeling or emotion within her being. She could smile or frown where appropriate and clearly she could cry, in fact it seemed that she couldn't stop herself from crying, but underneath it all she simply felt as though her heart had been removed from her body and her ability to feel with it.

~.~.~.~.~.~

As Jenny fled the room Vastra felt the tattered remnants of her heart sinking even lower in her chest. There was something very out of sorts about Jenny that was far more than just the pain of grief, but the Silurian couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was. The girl's scent wasn't right. All around their room at every point Vastra could taste Jenny. The soft sweet taste of her darling girl that had become like home to her was in every particle of air around her. But when Jenny had been in the room she had tasted different somehow. Suddenly there was something decidedly dull about Jenny's scent, it's sweet distinctiveness slowly vanishing into nothingness. The taste of it made Vastra feel even more broken than she already was. Maybe that was why she had spoken so coldly to the girl who she loved so dearly. Vastra had heard how detached she had sounded as she had spoken to her darling girl and she hated herself for it. She had called her an ape and compared her to all the rest despite knowing that Jenny was a better example of humanity than any of them ever could be. But Jenny hadn't felt like the same girl that Vastra loved as she had watched her scrutinising herself in the mirror and it had made the Silurian react to her differently.

From the bathroom down the hallway Vastra could hear Jenny's soft whimpers turning to sobs and all of a sudden there was an almighty bang which the Silurian could tell was the sound of her poor, sweet girl kicking the bathroom door in frustration. Was this how all humans handled their pain? Over the past few days she had never seen Jenny shed tears once but often when the girl left the room Vastra would hear her lock herself in the bathroom and cry and cry until she could no longer produce tears and everything would fall into silence. It seemed strange to Vastra. Never in all of the time that they had been together had Jenny hidden her tears from the Silurian. In fact, whenever she had been in pain she had sought out the lizard woman and clung to her as though her life depended on it. Why was this time so different? The seconds ticked by and all Vastra could hear was Jenny's sobbing. A few times she lifted herself from the bed with the intention of going to the bathroom door, knocking, and begging the girl to open up to her and tell her what she could do to help; somehow though she never made it to the bedroom door before she changed her mind. Jenny would come to her when she was ready, Vastra was sure of it. It wasn't until half an hour had passed that the strangled sobs emanating from the bathroom stopped and the house fell into silence. After ten more minutes the sound of the bathroom door opening echoed through the silent house and not long after the bedroom door swung open once more to reveal a decidedly calmer version of the maid.

"Jenny, are you alright?" Vastra had been in two minds as to whether or not she should ask the girl about her outburst but when she saw Jenny re-entering the room she simply couldn't help herself. At a glance Jenny appeared no different to the girl she had been for the entire time she had lived under the roof of 13 Paternoster Row. While she had been out of the room she had changed back into her maid's uniform (presumably for the benefit of Inspector Abberline given that the girl had mentioned his need to visit the house that day) and she had fixed her hair into its usual bun at the back of her head. Somehow she had managed to lessen the appearance of the bags under her eyes and her tearful moment had brought a little more colour back into her pale cheeks. But even under Jenny's facade Vastra could still taste the slight difference in the girl's scent and she could see how dull her darling girl's eyes had become.

"I'm fine ma'am" Jenny muttered in response, folding her nightgown neatly and placing it under her pillow. It didn't take a genius to know that she was lying.

"My dear, please... we are both going through a very difficult time and I want you to feel that you can..." The Silurian's train of thought was cut off by the sound of knocking on the door downstairs and before Vastra could do anything to stop her Jenny had grabbed her apron and bonnet and was out of the door and heading for the stairs. "Jenny!" It was no use, the maid's footsteps had already faded to nothingness and Vastra heard a faint creak as the front door was opened.

~.~.~.~.~.~

"Ah, Miss Flint. I don't need to tell you, I am sure, that we are here on your mistress' request concerning the death of the man responsible for the murder of your father." Almost as soon as Jenny had opened the door Inspector Abberline had rather unceremoniously pushed his way past her into the entrance hall of the house, his hat still firmly placed on his head and his hands pushed down deep into his pockets. If his actions were anything to go by Jenny would have said that the inspector had finally gotten over the fright that Vastra had given him a few days before (although she didn't miss the way his eyes would dart around the room nervously every now and then as though he were searching for the lizard woman). The maid held her response as the three officers that she recognised from the docks each followed their superior into the house, pulling their hats off as they entered and each nodding towards Jenny in greeting. "So, if you would be so kind as to fetch Madame Vastra..."

"Actually inspector, it was me who asked for you to visit the 'ouse today, not madam." Jenny's voice was calm and steady as she closed the door behind the officers but she kept her back to Abberline, desperately trying to compose herself so as not to lose her head and snap at the pompous jerk - she really wasn't in the mood for this man and his ridiculous attitude towards her. It wasn't until she turned and noticed the look of indignation on his face that she managed to calm herself at all. To some extent it was quite amusing how offended the inspector was by the thought that he had made the journey all the way to Paternoster Row on the request of a serving girl. "Madame is aware that you would be visitin' us, of course," Jenny continued, looking at the inspector evenly, "but I'm afraid she will not be joinin' us today. She's a little out of sorts I'm afraid."

"Out of sorts how, exactly?"

"I don't believe that's an of your business inspector. My mistress' personal matters are nothin' to do with you, only 'er professional ones." Abberline couldn't dispute that matter. As much as he would have liked to pry into the personal life of his exceedingly unusual colleague he really did have no right to be told any details concerning Madame Vastra or the things that went on within her home.

"Very well," he responded after a short pause, "well, if you will point us in the direction of..."

"Jenny! Jenny please, I had not finished speaking with you." Jenny visibly stiffened at the sound of Vastra's voice floating down from the top of the stairs and as she looked up she was mortified to find the Silurian hurrying down towards them, still dressed in only her nightgown and with a veil hurriedly thrown over her head to conceal her face from the officers.

"Ma'am, go back to bed. I shall be up to finish our conversation as soon as the officers 'ave finished dealin' with..."

"No, Jenny, you will speak with me now." The girl felt as though her blood were boiling in her veins. What on earth did Vastra think she was doing? Not only was she making a fool of herself, running around in her night dress like a child or a madwoman, but she was showing far too much emotion towards Jenny while in the company of the four men who still believed Jenny to merely be the maid of the house. As Vastra dismounted the staircase she had rushed over to Jenny and immediately pulled the girl's hand into her own, looking down at the maid as though the men were not even present. Jenny could feel the heat rising in her face and she knew that she was going red, although whether it was from anger or embarrassment she wasn't sure. Abruptly the girl pulled her hand out of the Silurian's grasp and looked up at her for a moment, her eyes blazing with indignation, before turning back to Abberline and his officers and attempting to school her features into a calm smile.

"Gentlemen," she started, her voice quivering slightly as she fought back a fresh bout of tears, "if you go through the second door on your right you will find yourselves in the dinin' room, through the next door inside you will find the kitchen an' jus' beyond that the larder. That's where the body is. I warn you though, 'e's been down there a day or two an' 'e's startin' to smell somethin' terrible." It was all she could do not to break down then and there and, forcing the last words out, she quickly turned on her heel and hurried back up the stairs with Vastra close behind her. Abberline and his officers were left to look on after the two women, wondering what on earth had just happened.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Jenny was furious. Utterly furious. It was the first time in days that she had felt anything at all and her one and only desire was to hit something. Just inside the doorway, with the door closed and locked behind her, Vastra was watching the girl closely. She had never seen Jenny like this. Jenny Flint didn't get angry. She didn't pace or ball her fists. She would never grit her teeth or shout for anything in the world, she was far too sweet tempered to do anything of the sort. But there she was, pacing back and forth across the bedroom, her fists ready to hit anything that got in her was and her jaw clenched to stop herself from screaming.

"Jenny I..."

"Don't you dare!" The girl stopped pacing abruptly and her eyes snapped up to regard Vastra. Those dark orbs that the Silurian loved so dearly were filled with fire and just a glance at them was enough to tell Vastra that she should keep quiet. "You don't say a word, do you understand me?! You stay absolutely silent until I tell you you can talk or I may just throttle you!" All of a sudden Vastra felt very small. She knew that Jenny was no physical threat to her, that the girl was small and fleshy and weak and that as a Silurian she could kill her in the blink of an eye if she so wished, but the human girl had such control over her heart that Vastra daren't go against her orders.

Silence fell over the room as the pair stared at one another and for the longest time nothing happened. Jenny's eyes remained locked on Vastra's. Her fists remained clenched and her cheeks flushed a furious shade of red but she didn't move an inch. Vastra herself was too afraid to move. Perhaps she had been wrong to chase after the girl when she went to answer the door. Maybe she should have waited and let Jenny deal with Abberline and the other officers before insisting that they continue their conversation. Whatever she should have done, however, it was a bit late for her to be worrying about it now.

"What the 'ell were you thinkin'?" Jenny's voice was low and threatening. Her eyes flashed slightly in anger. Vastra parted her lips to answer but she noticed how the girl's fists tightened slightly as she went to speak and she thought better of it. "What are those officers gonna think o' you an' I now, hm? You stupid, ridiculous lizard! Do you just not think?! Is that it? You just go runnin' around doin' whatever you so wish, never thinkin' o' the consequences?!"

"Perhaps I do not care anymore Jenny, has that thought occurred to you?! Perhaps I have no interest in how this ridiculous planet of apes perceives me!" Jenny seemed to bristle at the Silurian's response but she didn't lash out. Her fists only clenched tighter, her nails digging into the palms of her hands as she tried not to completely lose all control over her temper.

"Oh, so you're just gonna let 'em judge you an' shun you?! Perhaps even chain you up an' put you on display as a miraculous monster?! Or better yet, maybe you want 'em to cut you open an' start usin' you for scientific research?!"

"I would like to see them try!"

"Yeah? An' what exactly would you do about it Vastra?!"

"I would kill every last stinking ape who came within an inch of me! You know I am capable of it Jenny and you know that I would do it if I had to!" With each word the women screamed louder and louder, occasionally advancing towards one another until they were stood only a matter of inches apart, still glaring into one another's eyes. "There is only one ape I give a damn about on this planet and that is the woman who stole my heart. The woman who made me see that not all of humanity was cold and heartless. But I can't seem to find that young woman right now Jenny! It seems to me that she died along with our child!"

The sound of skin connecting with scales resounded through the air and the screaming of the Silurian and the maid stopped. Everything went silent. Vastra held her hand to her cheek, her mouth hanging open in shock. Tears began to spill over Jenny's cheeks as her own hand dropped back down to her side, her palm tingling with the force of the slap. Neither of them knew how to react. Downstairs the sound of the front door swinging shut resounded through the hallways as Abberline and his officers left and then silence resumed once more.


	7. An Unexpected Turn of Events

**Note: **Hello lovelies! Well, as always apologies for the delayed update - unfortunately Uni's taking up a lot of my time at the minute but I got there with this one in the end. As always enjoy, and I hope that you appreciate the slight relief from darkness and depression (even if it is still rather sombre towards the end).

Love always

Shadow of a Black Rose xxx

**Warning:** May contain some rather explicit and mildly violent interspecies lesbian sex (and by 'may' I mean 'absolutely will'), probably not suitable for anyone underage or of a mild mannered disposition, although I highly doubt you'd be reading this fic if you fit into either of those categories (and if you are, what the hell are you doing that for?! Don't let people think I corrupt the innocent!)

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Neither of them could explain how it had happened. One minute they were stood there in silence, Vastra's hand pressed to her stinging cheek while Jenny stared up at her in complete shock, and the next thing they knew they were kissing.

Jenny had almost knocked Vastra over as she threw herself into the Silurian's arms, clinging to the other woman as though her life depended on it, and Vastra had been forced to lower the girl onto the bed beneath herself so as to avoid the two of them collapsing to the floor in an unceremonious heap. There was no build up as there normally was in their most intimate moments. Neither of them began softly or gently. There was only passion, heat, parted lips and clashing teeth. Jenny bravely slid her tongue into the other woman's mouth and within seconds it felt as though she had started a war which she knew she could never win. The strength of Vastra's tongue was overpowering. Intoxicating. Jenny wanted more. She needed more. The girl pulled the Silurian closer so that Vastra's entire body weight dropped down on top of her and she kissed her love deeper, so deep that she was sure she could have climbed right into Vastra's mouth and stayed there forever.

When she had felt Jenny's hand connecting with her cheek Vastra had been sure that she had pushed the girl too far. The force of the slap had almost been enough to hurt her and it had certainly left her mildly disorientated. Perhaps that had been why her first reaction to the maid kissing her had not been to question her sudden change of mood. As the pair's kiss grew more heated, however, Vastra couldn't help but begin to feel a little uneasy. Was she taking advantage of Jenny by allowing this to continue? Clearly the girl was still very fragile and vulnerable, her dramatic mood swings throughout the course of that morning were enough to make that fact clear; but surely an expression of love between the two of them couldn't be a bad thing, could it?

"Jenny..." The Silurian had to force herself to pull away from the soft, warm lips of the human girl who was so eagerly trying to hold her in their passionate embrace. Vastra's attempts were futile, however, and only a moment long enough for her to utter the girl's name had passed before Jenny had pulled Vastra's face to her once more and was biting at her scaled lips roughly, determined not to allow the Silurian to break away from her. "Jenny... darling, please..."

"Later" Jenny murmured and she kissed Vastra again, ceasing the Silurian's protestations for a short while longer.

Vastra didn't know what she was supposed to do. Should she trust that Jenny knew what she was doing and, more importantly, what she needed to get through the emotional turmoil that was going on within her? Or should she stop her? Should she pull herself away from her poor, sweet girl in the hope that she would prevent Jenny from causing herself any further confusion and pain? While the Silurian's head told her that Jenny's sudden affection towards her would most likely be detrimental to the girl she still wanted, deep down, to believe that Jenny had enough sense to know what was best for her.

"Jenny please... stop."

"Why?" Big, dark eyes peered up out of the maid's pale face and for a moment Vastra found herself lost for words. She hadn't noticed until that moment what it was that had been missing from Jenny over the past few days. When she had tasted how bland the girl's scent had become she simply hadn't understood what was wrong. But in that moment, looking down into Jenny's beautiful eyes, Vastra could finally see for herself what had been causing her darling girl so much frustration. All of a sudden the emotions that had been trapped somewhere deep inside of Jenny had broken free from her being and had begun to swirl around her eyes like the thick fog that often hung in the air on cold winter mornings in London.

"You are certain about this...?" It was only half formed as a question and for a moment Jenny wasn't sure if she was supposed to provide an answer or not. She could see the uncertainty on Vastra's face and as she spoke the soft tones of the Silurian's voice were laced with concern.

"I need this," Jenny said calmly, her arms still wrapped tightly around the other woman's neck and their faces mere inches apart, "I need you Vastra. Please..." The Silurian didn't need any further encouragement, the calm certainty in Jenny's voice was enough to make her decision for her. If the girl said that this was what she needed then Vastra would do everything in her power to give it to her.

Leaning down to recapture Jenny's lips Vastra gently wrapped her hand around the back of the girl's neck, softly toying with the loose strands of hair that had sprung free from the tight bun that still held the thick, dark curls in place. As a force of habit the Silurian had reverted to the delicate approach that she had always taken towards her sweet little human girl but as the two women kissed Vastra could feel that that was not what Jenny wanted. The maid's arms around her neck were shifting restlessly and with every second that their lips touched Jenny was desperately attempting to make her partner free herself from the self imposed restraint that she always adopted during their more intimate moments.

"Vastra please," the girl groaned in frustration, barely parting her lips from the other woman's, "please, I need more! I don't want you to be gentle with me. I don't want you to 'old back like you always do! I want you. No restraint, no caution, just you."

"What if I hurt you?" Vastra's eyes had widened slightly at the mere suggestion that she allow her guard to drop when there was so great a risk of her harming Jenny. She pursed her lips as she regarded the girl beneath her apprehensively but Jenny simply shook her head.

"You can't 'urt me any more than I'm already 'urtin'" Vastra was sure that she felt her heart shatter in her chest at the girl's utterance. She closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to compose herself, feeling tears beginning to well up, but she quickly forced herself back into a state of calm. Internally the Silurian was battling with herself. She didn't want to hurt Jenny, just the thought of the girl in any sort of pain was enough to tear her apart, but she also wanted nothing more than to help Jenny through the emotional pain that she knew she was experiencing.

Before Jenny knew what was happening Vastra had lifted herself from the bed and had rolled the maid onto her stomach to give herself better access to the back of Jenny's dress. The Silurian made short work of the garment with one swift motion of a claw and with another the corset beneath Jenny's dress had had its fastening ties sliced apart. The pale expanse of skin that was revealed seemed so delicate and flawless in the cold winter sunlight that shone in from the expanse of windows to the left of the bed but Vastra knew that she couldn't let that deter her. She would do anything she had to do to give her sweet girl what she needed in the hope that one day Jenny would smile that beautiful smile of hers again.

Apprehensively Vastra began to trail her fingers down the length of the girl's spine, allowing her claws to dig into the pale skin beneath them ever so slightly. Even with the soft pressure that she applied it was enough to break the skin and as the Silurian's finger's continued their journey down the length of Jenny's back she watched as thin crimson trails were left in their wake. A soft gasp broke free from Jenny's throat as she felt the sharp tips of the Silurian's claws tearing through her flesh and she buried her face in the bed sheets to prevent Vastra from hearing her. She knew that the Silurian would be uncomfortable with the situation, that she would be apprehensive and worried to begin with, but just to feel anything at all was exquisite for Jenny in that moment and the sharp pain that was being carved into her back by her lovely lizard was the most astounding relief after the numbness that she had been experiencing over the past few days. Incidentally, as she felt Vastra retract her claws on reaching the dip in her lower back Jenny couldn't help but groan in protest. The maid leant up on her elbows, turning her head slightly to regard Vastra, but the eyes that stared back at her were not as she had expected them to be.

"Vastra...?" Jenny's heart was racing in her chest as she studied the Silurian leaning over her. Vastra's pupils were dilated so that there was only the tiniest sliver of crystal blue tinting their edges and as she gazed down at the human girl before her she tilted her head to the side at a jaunty angle. Her pale green lips were parted slightly as though she were lost for words and every now and then that long, snake-like tongue of hers would flick out from between the lips, tasting the air around her. It didn't take Jenny more than a matter of seconds to figure out what was going on; at the smell of her blood Vastra's primal instincts must have begun to kick in. The composed detective had taken a step back, giving way to the Silurian warrior that always remained a large part of who Vastra was. "Darlin'?"

Jenny couldn't quite decide if she should be terrified or aroused. She knew how dangerous Vastra was, how she could snap her like a twig, eat her or poison her at any moment, but somehow she just knew that it wouldn't happen. The Silurian continued to stare at her hungrily, practically devouring the maid's body with her eyes, but it wasn't like the hunger that Jenny saw in the woman's eyes when she was about to devour her victims while she worked. No, this was different. There was hunger for blood in the deep blackness of the Silurian's pupils, of course, but mixed in amongst it was lust - pure lust. Jenny could feel moisture pooling between her legs and she shivered slightly in anticipation when a soft hiss permeated the air from the back of Vastra's throat as she sensed the girl's growing arousal.

Finally, the Silurian's observations seemed to cease and she slowly leant down over Jenny's body like a predator preparing to gorge herself on her prey. Vastra pulled the girl's head back roughly by her bun and Jenny's squeal of shock was swallowed by the rough and yet passionate kiss that crashed down upon her lips. Despite being bent at an odd angle Jenny couldn't help the moans that escaped her as the other woman's lips connected with her own over and over again. The long thin tongue that slid between her lips probed around every inch of the maid's mouth and once or twice strayed a little too far towards the back of her throat until Jenny's body tensed and, thinking better of the action, Vastra withdrew the appendage, returning it to its earlier explorations.

It was impossible to tell how long the kiss lasted but as Vastra finally released Jenny from the incommodious position in which she had held her the speed of the girl's fall back to the mattress and the tightening of the skin across her back forced the partially dried cuts across her skin to open up once more and fresh blood began to seep out onto Jenny's skin. Before she could so much as think about moving however Vastra had shifted her own body weight to straddle the maid's hips and, holding each of the girl's hands firmly down on the mattress over her head, she began to kiss Jenny's neck hungrily. From the moment that those cool, scaled lips pressed to the delicate skin just below her right ear Jenny knew that she was losing herself in the delicious mixture of pleasure and pain that was being inflicted on her by the one person in the world who she would truly say she belonged to. The Silurian somehow found the perfect balancing point between the soft kisses that she would always place on Jenny's neck and the more vicious action of nipping at the girl's delicate skin until tiny droplets of blood highlighted the entire right side of Jenny's neck almost in imitation of an exceptionally starry night. The feeling drew gasps and moans from the girl one after another and Vastra found that if she sucked at Jenny's injuries in a very specific way she could even make the girl hiss in a similar way to that of her own species.

"Oh my..." Jenny squirmed slightly as Vastra clamped her jaw down over the pulse point at the base of her jaw and began to suck on the pale flesh like a newborn kitten suckling at its mother's teat. Instinctively the girl lifted her head and arched her back, attempting to push herself closer to the sensation but no sooner had she moved than Vastra roughly pressed a knee down against the girl's back to hold her still, causing a stabbing pain to run the length of each claw mark that opened further at the violence of the action. Blood seemed to rush to Jenny's head as the Silurian sucked at her pulse point more viciously and with the added pressure on her brain in conjunction with the pain in her back the girl was almost certain that she was going to pass out. She was starting to feel lightheaded and mildly dizzy. The strength of Vastra's knee pressing her down into the mattress was making it hard for her to breathe. Then, all of a sudden, Vastra was gone and everything stopped.

Jenny dared not move. Vastra was so unpredictable when her instincts took over that there was no way of guessing what she was planning on doing next. Even the twitch of a muscle would have caught the Silurian's attention and, with no way for Jenny to know whether it would be safe for her to move or not the maid thought it best that she remained where she was, splayed out across the bed with her dress and corset only covering the front half of her body. Jenny wasn't sure how but at some point during the moments that had just passed her underwear and bustle had been forcefully removed and she could just see them lying on the floor by the fire out of the corner of her eye. For the life of her she couldn't remember how Vastra had gone about separating the garments from her body but with the evidence clear in front of her a slight blush beginning to creep into the girl's cheeks at the realisation that she was practically displaying her arse for Vastra's pleasure.

The unexpected sensation of Vastra's incredibly long tongue winding itself around Jenny's throat pulled the girl back from her thoughts and, with the assistance of a cool, scaled hand wrapped around her waist, the Silurian hoisted Jenny up from the bed and onto her knees. The mattress dipped slightly just behind where Jenny knelt and she knew that Vastra was now kneeling directly behind her. She could feel heat radiating from the Silurian's body. _Well that's new_ the girl mused to herself silently _I didn't think reptiles could give off heat_. She made a mental note to ask Vastra about it later but before her musings could go any further the maid couldn't help but notice that the tongue still wrapped around her throat was still gradually moving over her body. Slowly but surely that dangerous appendage that Jenny had seen used so many times to kill thieves and murderers alike was coiling further around her neck and beginning to slide gradually down the length of her back. The girl felt a sharp sting as the Silurian purposefully licked at the blood seeping from one of the claw marks on her skin and her body jolted away out of instinct. The arm around Jenny's waist tightened its grip and the maid felt her lover's torso pressing tightly against her back, wedging Vastra's tongue between them. Still the movements of the tongue never ceased and, undeterred, it continued to slide further and further down Jenny's back. As it reached the dip at the bottom of the maid's back where her spine ended Jenny expected the Silurian's exploration of her body to stop but as Vastra's tongue slipped between her arse cheeks and then between her legs Jenny's eyes bulged in their sockets and she groaned loudly.

"Bloody 'ell!" As soon as Vastra encountered the girl's entrance all chances of keeping up that torturously slow pace were lost and immediately she thrust her tongue deep within Jenny causing the girl to cry out, her back arching and her head dropping back slightly onto the Silurian's shoulder. Vastra's hands seemed to be everywhere. While one tore the remains of the maids dress from her body the other slid up over her stomach until it encountered a breast. The first hand delved deeper, fingers trailing through neat dark curls until they found what they were searching for and quickly, mercilessly began to trace circles over the sensitive bundle of nerves that the Silurian had claimed as her own so many times before. Jenny felt dizzy from the sudden onslaught and she gasped and moaned helplessly, her hips rolling back against Vastra's pelvis of their own accord and her hands reaching behind her, clinging to Vastra's thighs in an attempt to ground herself. It was no good. The movements of that tongue inside of her were driving the girl mad. It was as though Vastra was attempting to taste all of her at once, not an inch of her insides was being left untouched. Vastra's scales were hot. Really hot. Jenny was sure that the woman would burn her skin as she clung to her, but still the girl pressed herself further back into the Silurian's body. Skin on scales - the contact was agony, pure, sweet agony and Jenny's moans were growing louder with every second that the blistering sensation coursed through her. Vastra's hand that had sought out the girl's breasts was toying with her right nipple while the other continued its vicious onslaught of Jenny's clit. The tongue that was exploring the maid's insides was growing more and more adventurous with every second. Jenny wasn't sure how much more she could take. Her breathing had grown so shallow that she was panting as she leaned back into Vastra's body. Every sensation caused by the Silurian's ministrations was pure bliss and there were so many feelings consuming the girl that she thought her brain would explode. Jenny hadn't felt a single thing for days and now, all of a sudden, it was as though her body was trying to make up for lost time.

Over everything else, the pain and the love and the sheer desperation for the moment that the two women were sharing to never end, Jenny could feel her orgasm building. Heat was rising in her body and that funny tingling feeling in her stomach had just begun to make itself known. Her grip tightened on Vastra's thighs and all of a sudden the part of the Silurian's tongue that was still coiled loosely around the maid's throat tightened so much that Jenny's airway was crushed and her ability to breathe was cut off. Still Vastra's ministrations continued and as Jenny gasped for air her orgasm flooded over her and her body trembled in its release. Black spots danced before the maid's eyes and for the longest time she seemed to lose all sense of where she was and what had happened. Her mind was a scrambled mess of emotions, her heart was hammering in her chest, then all at once a sense of calm washed over her and she allowed herself to fall back into the Silurian's lap.

~.~.~.~.~.~

As Jenny finally came back to herself and her eyes fluttered open there was a moment that passed in which the girl had almost forgotten about the circumstances which had lead up to the events that had just occurred. For a split second everything felt exactly the same as it always had when she awoke after she and Vastra had made love and instinctively the corners of the girl's mouth quirked up slightly in an absentminded smile. Jenny's head was resting on the cool, smooth surface of the Silurian's shoulder and from the direction she was facing she found herself watching as Vastra's chest rose and fell with every breath she took. One of the other woman's hands was toying with the long strands of hair that had been released from the confines of the girl's bun while the fingers of the other hand had carefully interwoven themselves with Jenny's own. Everything was peaceful. Everything was quiet. It was only the dull pains in the girl's back and neck and the slight headache that was beginning to form just behind her eyes that reminded Jenny that things could not stay that calm forever.

"Jenny?" Vastra's voice was no louder than a murmur as she spoke but just the sound of it was enough to make the maid's heart stop for a second. The Silurian must have sensed her waking up but Jenny wished that she wouldn't speak. Couldn't they just lay as they were for a little while longer? Couldn't they pretend that there had been no heartache or loss in their lives, and that they were still as happy as they had been as they woke up together on that first morning after the first time they had ever shared a bed? Of course, Jenny knew the answer without even having to ask the question. She knew that she and Vastra had been through too much to pretend that everything was alright, she just wasn't sure that she was ready to face reality just yet. Unfortunately for Jenny, Vastra didn't seem willing to let the girl avoid speaking with her any longer. On finding that her utterance of the maid's name was not rousing the girl from her own thoughts Vastra carefully hooked one of her fingers under Jenny's chin and gently guided her face up until they were once more looking into one another's eyes. Again Jenny's heart seemed to stop in her chest momentarily and her lips slackened as she gazed up into the once more sparkling crystal pools that only a short while ago had been dominated by the dilated pupils of an animal.

"'Ello." It was pathetic, Jenny knew that, but she honestly didn't know what else she could say. Vastra appeared to be just as lost for words. For the longest time the Silurian gazed down at the human girl in her arms, her eyes wondering over every inch of the girl that they could lay themselves on as though searching for signs of serious injury. Somehow it didn't surprise Jenny. She was sure that the other woman must have already carried out this process at least once while she had been dozing in fear that she may have harmed the girl's weak human form. However, no matter how hard Jenny tried, she couldn't shake the feeling that the conversation that Vastra really wanted them to have would be far more concerned with her emotional wellbeing than the after effects of what had just passed between them.

"Are you alright my love?" Jenny hesitated.

"Physically, yes I'm fine. Aside from that..."

"Darling, I..." Jenny pressed a finger to Vastra's lips and immediately the Silurian's words died out. The girl knew that she had to explain herself. She knew that the worry filling Vastra's eyes as she looked into them was almost certainly the product of the girl's mood swings throughout the day. Jenny needed to make the Silurian understand what she was feeling but she couldn't do that if Vastra was going to talk over her.

"Vastra please. You 'ave to let me say this. Because if I don't say it now I'm scared I'll lose my nerve..." The girl's lips trembled as she spoke and she was forced to stop for a minute to compose herself. Her eyes wondered away from Vastra's for a second and as the action broke the contact between them the Silurian instinctively gathered the girl up in her arms, pulling Jenny closer in an attempt to help the girl find the strength that she needed to speak. It calmed Jenny slightly to feel the woman she loved holding her so close and, gathering her thoughts she began to speak once more. "You were right before... what you said about me not really bein' 'ere. Darlin', I know that I've been distant the past few days. I know that I've been goin' about my days as though nothin's 'appened... as though we 'aven't lost..." Jenny's voice broke and she bit her bottom lip hard as she tried to pull herself together. She had to do this. If she was ever going to find a way to get past this rough patch that she seemed to have fallen into then she had to tell Vastra what had really been going on with her. Tears began to well up in the girl's eyes and she tentatively allowed her gaze to wonder back up to meet the Silurian's. "I don't know what's wrong with me Vastra. Ever since I read in that note what that man did to our baby... Ever since I 'eld 'er in my arms an' realised that she really was gone it's been as though I couldn't feel anythin' at all."

"I know my love, I know. This whole ordeal has been devastating for us both."

"But darlin', it's different." Jenny sighed slightly and shook her head. She knew that Vastra was hurting too, even when she seemed as collected and calm as she did in that moment Jenny knew that the Silurian was feeling the loss of their daughter just as she now was. But still, deep down, the girl knew that her beautiful lizard couldn't ever know exactly how much pain she was in. Lifting a hand to caress Vastra's cheek gently Jenny looked into the other woman's eyes and a few small tears began to seep from the corners of her own. "I know that loosin' Aria 'as 'urt you too Vastra, really I do; an' I'm not tryin' to say that you 'ave it easier than me, but not much more than a month ago that little girl was still a part o' me. Only a month. I let 'er tiny little body grow inside o' me for over 'alf a year an' in only a month she's been taken away from me... forever." The tears were flowing continuously down Jenny's cheeks as she continued to speak and her voice seemed to grow a little weaker with every word that passed her lips. Absentmindedly the girl's hand dropped to her stomach and as she spoke she allowed her fingers to run along the marks that her pregnancy had left on her. "I feel as though a part o' me did die with 'er. I feel like that little part of my 'eart that Aria 'ad claimed as 'er own in all the time she was growin' in me 'as crumbled away with 'er, an' I don't think it'll ever be fixed again."

The girl's voice broke as the last word passed her lips and before Vastra even thought to respond she had pulled Jenny's fragile body tightly into her arms and she held her sweet girl close. The Silurian knew that the girl was right. She could never imagine the torment that the Jenny must have been going through over the past few days. Having never brought a child into the world herself, not to mention losing that child such a short time later, there was no way for Vastra to understand the pain that Jenny was feeling. There was, however, something that she could do to assist in healing the girl's broken heart. Or at least, she hoped that there was.

"Jenny, my love, I want you to listen to me carefully." The Silurian's voice was soft and smooth as she whispered and the tone of her voice was almost like a lullaby with every syllable that passed her lips. As she held Jenny in her arms, the girl's head resting lightly on her chest, she gently ran the fingers of one hand up and down the length of the girl's spine, being careful to avoid the healing cuts that had been left behind from their earlier antics. "I do not pretend that I can feel the things that you have been feeling since we lost Aria. I know that, if my own feelings are anything to go by, you must be feeling so lost and confused alongside the pure agony of knowing that we will never get to see our angel's beautiful little face again. Darling, if I could take those feelings from you so that you did not have to suffer them you know I would do it in a heartbeat, but even though I cannot there is something that I can do." Pausing for a moment Vastra pressed a soft, loving kiss to Jenny's forehead and she bit back her own tears that were threatening to break free from the confines of her eyes. "I know it is not much," she murmured, "but I want to prove to you that we will find our way through this pain. And so, I have something for you." Attempting not to move too much so as not to disturb the restful position that the girl had taken up on her chest Vastra leaned over to her bedside table and, opening the draw, carefully plucked from it a small box. "Do you remember the night before all of this happened, when you asked me if I would marry you and you told me that you had been wanting to ask for a while? Well... you are not the only one who had contemplated a union between us. Jenny, I have known for so long that I could never imagine my life without you and perhaps this is the opportunity that I needed to make this promise seem real for us both." Jenny's weight seemed to shift slightly against the Silurian's chest and as Vastra looked down at the girl she was surprised to find her propped up on her elbows and watching her closely. Carefully Vastra opened the box that she had taken out and she showed its contents to Jenny, keeping her eyes fixed on the girl's face. Inside the box there were two gold rings, simple in design, but still beautiful none the less. "I bought these a little while ago now, and I was waiting for the right time to ask you to marry me before you asked me yourself. Jenny I want this to be my promise to you. I do not know how long it will take for the pain of our loss to heal. It could take years for all I know. But when we have both found the peace that we need to find in ourselves, and when we have properly said goodbye to our little girl, I promise you that we will be married as a sign that not even the worst experience we could ever have encountered could break us apart. It will be the proof that we can survive anything and that we will love each other and support each other through the pain, even if we do face a few rough patches along the way."

A silence fell between the two women as Vastra finally finished her proposal and for the longest time Jenny didn't say a word. The girl's eyes flicked from Vastra's face to the rings in the box and back again several times and she appeared to be contemplating something. Then, quite out of nowhere, the girl leant up and pressed her lips to the Silurian's, holding the woman she loved close as she kissed her as softly as the first time their lips had ever touched.

"Am I to take that as a yes?" Vastra asked when Jenny finally allowed herself to pull back from the kiss for long enough to breathe.

"You're to take it as the most certain yes that I've ever given to anyone in my entire life." Once more tears were brimming in the maid's eyes but for the first time in a while they weren't entirely tears of pain. Yes, it would take a while for life to lead Jenny and her lovely lizard back to a place where they could be happy again but the girl was okay with that so long as she knew that Vastra would be by her side, holding her hand all the way.


End file.
